Friends or Foes
by Leeches Lolita
Summary: Its been four years since Sasuke left Konoha, and Sakura is still in love with him. but what does he feel about her? and why is he suddenly regreting going to orochimaru? or...is he? find out in my story friends or foes! its better than it sounds.promis
1. Chapter 1: tearful cherry blossom

Note to Readers:

The reason I wrote this is because a few days before I began writing this I was listening to one of my favourite t.A.T.u. songs "Friend of Foe". I instantly thought of Sasuke. Then I though of SasuSaku. Then I wrote this. I know that the beginning and some parts of the story sound like a NaruSaku story. But this isn't…I swear that this is a SasuSaku fanfiction. But who knows? What if near the end it turns out that Sasuke and Sakura weren't meant for each other??? What if some other crazy pairing happens near the end? Or what if Sasuke and Sakura do end up together? Well…you'll never know unless you read this! And even if you totally are against the idea of Sasuke and Sakura being together, theirs plenty of other pairings that happen in this fanfiction. And remember: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters (though it would be totally beast if I did) and this is just how I see things happening in the future of Naruto. I promise that any info about Naruto (the show, or the manga) is not always going to be one hundred percent accurate, so just bear with me. And who knows! Maybe some day, these pairings will really happen. And if they don't, well, we can imagine, right? Oh! And before if forget, at the end of some of the chapters I left chapter notes. Well, I'll stop my senseless babbling and get on with it. Ladies and gentlemen (and Naruto fans of the world) I give you my fanfiction: "Friends or Foes"!

One:

Tearful Cherry Blossom

Haruno Sakura; a shinobi from the village hidden in the leaves; stepped out onto her front porch. It was almost five 'o clock in the morning and the sun hadn't risen yet. She inhaled the fresh dawn air as she sat down on the steps. It was times like these when she liked to think about the past and remember the good old days of squad 7; which was now team Kakashi. But their always seemed to be one thing that was almost always on her mind. One person. This person had been very precious to her for many, many years. She had even confessed her unconditional love for him. But that was a very long, long time ago. Back when everything made sense to her…

This person's name happened to be Uchiha Sasuke. He used to be a part of squad 7, until that horrible evening when this boy broke poor Sakura's heart and abandoned the village hidden in the leaves to obtain more power from their enemy: Orochimaru. This had been many years ago, but she still remembered every word he had said to her.

These were the kinds of things that clouded Sakura's brain all the time. It was getting worse. She seemed more and more disconnected during missions and her comrade (and admirer) Uzumaki Naruto knew something was up. He knew it was because of Sasuke. Tonight (or, should I say this morning) this was what was on her mind. She hadn't been able to sleep, so she came out to get some fresh air. Even though she hadn't seen him in so long, she remembered Sasuke's face as though she had seen it just the day before. She remembered his voice, his hair, his eyes…

She felt a cool breeze as a tear ran down her face. She went inside and up to her room where she fell asleep to her own crying. It seemed that's how she went to sleep every night now days.

~Kind of a short chapter. Sorry~


	2. Chapter 2: the mission

Two:

The Mission

"Sakura! Theirs some one at the door for you!" called a voice. Sakura sat up in bed and felt her face. It was almost soaked with tears. She had taken a shower the night before, so she quickly dressed and washed up. She ran down the stairs to greet her visitor.

Uzumaki Naruto stood in the doorway grinning at her. She couldn't help but smile back. He had been her only friend that understood what losing Sasuke really felt like.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" she asked him.

"Lady Tsunade wants to see all of team Kakashi! Sai is waiting outside!" he answered.

"Oh! Sai is here too?" she said. "Mom! I have to go!" she called to another room as she raced out side. Naruto sped up to walk beside her.

"You look terrible!" he said. Sakura clenched her fist and glared at him. She had been trying to control her anger, so she had to work hard to resist the urge to punch him in the face. Naruto got the message.

"No, no…I mean…did you sleep alright last night? I mean, lately you've seen a little…uh…I don't know…distracted," he said hastily. He thought a moment. "Is it about Sasuke?" he whispered. Sakura nodded. She closed her eyes to try to blink back tears, but they cascaded down her face anyway. Naruto couldn't help thinking she looked beautiful even when she was crying. Suddenly, in the middle of the street, Sakura completely broke down. She fell to her knees and cried into her hands. Naruto knelt down beside her.

"I just m-m-miss him s-s-so much! I mean, I always have missed S-S-Sasuke-Kun…b-but I-I-I…" she sobbed. Then she completely lost control and screamed, "I'M SO IN LOVE WITH HIM I CANT STAND IT! I NEED TO SEE HIM, NARUTO! HOW DO I EVEN KNOW HE'S STILL ALIVE?!" she collapsed into Naruto's arms who held her close to him, wishing she thought about him that way, instead of that pretty boy Sasuke. But he had been their team mate, so he sort of understood. But it was awkward because what Sakura had just said about how she felt for Sasuke was how Naruto himself felt for the crying girl in his arms.

Sai stood over them with that false smile of his on his face.

"Are you two about finished yet?" he said. Naruto stood up, still holding Sakura to his chest. She slowly pulled away from him.

"I need to see him, Naruto," she said quietly, "I really do."

"I know, Sakura-Chan. We need him back on our team. And I'm still gonna keep my promise to you about getting him back. I swear it to you, Sakura," said Naruto. He looked at her and grinned again. She forced a brave smile back at him. Sai put his hands on his hips and sighed crossly.

They continued towards Lady Tsunade's office. Once they arrived, they knocked on the door. They expected to see Shizune answer it but…well…they all (except Sai) had the flashback. Instead, Lady Tsunade herself let them in.

"Good, I'm glad you're here. I have some very important information to tell you. I think we may have some leads as to where your comrade is," she said. Sakura snapped to attention.

"You know where Sasuke-kun is?! Please tell me!" she begged desperately. Tsunade looked at her former student with worried eyes. She had sensed something in her heart longed for Sasuke ever since they had started spending more time working on medical ninjutsu with her.

"Yes, Sakura, I think I have a pretty good idea where he is. But we need to take advantage of this opportunity quickly. After all…Orochimaru is still on the move and we don't know exactly how long he stays with Sasuke in one place. This will be an S ranked mission…after all…your not only looking for Sasuke, but you're looking for Orochimaru as well and possibly trying to kill him. We have been tracking him for some time now. Our sources tell us that he and Sasuke are in the Land of Wind. Close to our friend Gaara of the Hidden Sand Village, in fact. That's most likely where you should head for first. And trust me…we know Orochimaru, so you'll know it when you find him. It should take you about a week on foot to get their, and you'll only have about another week to look for them, leaving a week for your return. On your way their, stay hidden and trust no one. It would be best if you walked the entire way…running or trying to get another way of transportation could tip off any one what you're doing," instructed Lady Tsunade, "do you understand your mission, Team Kakashi?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the others replied.

"Speaking of Kakashi…where is he? I mean…is he late _again_ or something?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Oh…I forgot to mention it but, um, Kakashi won't be going with you three," said Tsunade. A guard standing against the wall quickly spoke up.

"But Lady Hokage! Though Sakura is a medical ninja and Chunin, Naruto is still only a _Genin_," he said.

"Hay!" shouted Naruto, "I might only be a Genin, but one day I'll become Hokage and completely surpass you, Grandma Tsunade! I swear I'll…!" Sakura, who stood slightly behind him, covered his mouth with one hand and wrapped her other arm around his neck in an attempt to try and strangle him. Of course, Naruto didn't get it and thought she was trying to embrace him. She let go of him.

"Jeez, Sakura-Chan! Do you always hold so tightly when you hug men?!" he asked her, rubbing his neck.

"I wasn't hugging you, you idiot, I was stopping you from saying something potentially stupid!" she whispered menacingly at him. He began to back off.

"Anyway," continued Tsunade, "Naruto may only be a Genin, but I believe that he has great potential. He does, after all, possess the power of the 9 Tailed Fox within him. They'll be fine!"

"If you say so, my Lady, I trust your opinion," said the guard, but only half heartedly. He was fully aware that these teens could easily die or be brutally killed. But he remembered what these kids had been capable of, even years ago when all of them had been Genin (Sai of course, had not been on their team yet), but back then they had had Uchiha Sasuke.

"I guess we'll be leaving immediately, then," said Sai.

"The sooner the better, you three, now get going! I wanna see all of you back here within or before the instructed time, with Sasuke. Got it?" said Tsunade.

"Right!" the team shouted enthusiastically.

"Good…now get going, Naruto, Sakura and…Sai," said Tsunade, wanting more than anything to include Sasuke's name in the group instead of Sai's. "And good luck!"


	3. Chapter 3: Sakura andNaruto?

Three:

Sakura and…Naruto?

Sakura, Naruto and Sai walked through dense woods on a crude path. It was the sixth day of their journey to the Hidden Sand Village. Naruto was walking steadily beside Sakura; who was concentrating on the road ahead (and finding her Sasuke-kun), and Sai was walking slightly behind them, his nose buried deep in a book.

"You know, Naruto, this book says that in order to let your feelings be known to other people you have to clearly express them. Maybe you should try that on Sakura. Just let her know that you love her. Of course, she would already know if she had been awake to hear you talking in your sleep the last few nights. I'm sure she would have been just as entertained as I was…" Sai said, clearly not noticing the dangerous territory he was entering. But that was Sai for you.

"Shut it, Sai!" Naruto said quickly. Sakura didn't seem to notice. She just continued to stare ahead of her with a worried and depressed expression on her face. Naruto wanted nothing but to comfort her, but he found it difficult to express his true emotions to her. How come it had been so easy to make a move on her before? But lately he had felt scared she would oppose him. She would, after all, rather find her Sasuke-kun. What would happen when they found him? Would she tell him how she felt again? Would he break her heart and reject her again, only making her more miserable? This was a no win situation because if Sasuke ended up accepting her, Sakura would be happy…but not with Naruto. And if he rejected her, she would be ten times more depressed than she was now. No way could Naruto be happy when _his_ Sakura-Chan was upset. And what if they didn't find Sasuke at all? How would she cope with it then? What if he hurt her; not mentally, but physically? It was then when he decided that not only would he bring Sasuke back, but he would protect Sakura with his life. He would make sure Sasuke didn't hurt her as he had all those years ago.

"Let's take a break, okay? My legs are sore from walking!" said Sakura, sitting down on a large rock. Naruto had to force himself to not say something smart or something about not being tired. But he knew that she was tired, so he respected that.

Sai sat cross-legged on the ground beside Sakura (still reading his book), and Naruto sat down on the rock directly beside Sakura. He looked at her a moment. He made sure that Sai was only concentrating on his book before he took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak. He panicked and quickly shut it. Sakura looked at him after brushing her almost shoulders length pink hair out of her eyes. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was now. Well, he had always though she was cute or pretty, but lately…

He looked at her and tried to remember what he was trying to tell her. He glanced around looking for some kind of inspiration. Then he thought of Sai who was probably eavesdropping on them now.

"What is it Naruto?! Are you alright? You look sort of…strange…um…why are you staring at me? Your breathing kind of hard. Are you having trouble breathing or something, because if you are, then I can help you if you…" but Sakura never had a chance to finish her sentence. Without warning, Naruto grabbed her shoulders and pulled her forward and kissed her. Surprised, she tried to escape from his grasp, but he had caught her off guard so she wasn't able to escape. He kissed her for a minute longer until finally she was able to push him away from her.

"What was that for!" she demanded.

"I'm sorry…I just…" began Naruto.

"Wasn't thinking!" Sakura finished for him.

"No! I _was _thinking! Sakura-Chan, I…I…I…" he paused to think for a quick moment, "Sai, do you mind leaving us alone for a sec?"

"Why, Naruto-Kun?" he asked.

"Because we need to talk about something. And don't call me 'Naruto-Kun'. Its kind of creepy," said Naruto.

"Fine. I'll leave if you think it'll broaden our relationship!" said Sai, beginning to walk away.

"What! I didn't even say anything like that! And don't say stuff like that, okay?!" said Naruto. But Sai was now out of earshot so he was unable to hear him. Or…so Naruto thought, anyway.

"What do you need to talk to me about, Naruto?" asked Sakura. "Is everything alright?"

"Yea. Everything's fine, I guess…I have…something on my mind. Promise you wont hate me if I tell you, okay?" said Naruto.

"Sure! What's up?" said Sakura.

"You know how you told me that you were so in love with Sasuke that you couldn't stand it?" he asked her.

"Yes…but what does that have to do with…" began Sakura.

"I…um…how do I put this…Sakura-Chan…I…feel exactly the same way…a-a-about you," said Naruto, whispering the last part. He ran his fingers through his hair, grinning in an almost embarrassed way.

"What…What are you saying?" said Sakura. She was a little shocked at what Naruto had just told her, so she didn't quite get the message despite her sharpness.

"S-Sakura…" he closed his eyes for a moment. His hand reached out and gently took hold of Sakura's, which was resting on her knee. She gasped. "I…love…you…S-Sakura…Chan."

Sakura quickly drew back, a terrified look on her face. Of course she had subconsciously known that all along…but she never expected him to admit it to her. She just starred at him in awe.

"Y-y-you know that it…it can't happen b-between us…Naruto," she stuttered. "You know I love S-Sasuke-kun. I-I-I'm sorry, Naru-!"

Naruto wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. She was so confused. After all…she knew that her having immense feelings for Sasuke must be silently killing Naruto on the inside, though she knew he hid it from her. He had always put on a brave face in front of her, no matter how painful it was. She couldn't bring herself to push him away again.

"I'm scared that I'll be missing my chance if I don't do it now…I mean…I want you to know that if Sasuke…you know…doesn't want you…you've _always_ got me," he whispered softly in her ear. "I just don't want you to get hurt." He hugged her tighter to him and tears began to fall from her eyes. _You are weak, Sakura!_ She thought to herself. _You know you love Sasuke! Naruto's just an idiot who doesn't know what he's saying._ Then she had another thought. _What if he does know what he's talking about. What if he really feels the same way for me that I do for Sasuke-kun? _

"Naruto…It's not that I don't want you…I just…" she had not idea what she was doing until it was all over. She pulled back for a slight second before lightly pressing her lips to his. Her arms slowly reached around his neck, where she held him close to her, kissing him. Naruto's arms went around her waist, holding her for dear life; fearing she would soon pull back again.

Suddenly, Sakura felt guilty about what she was doing. She and Sasuke had always shared one thought: Naruto was just a simple minded idiot. But…lately, he had become more of a man…not to very many other people…but to her. She couldn't have feelings for Naruto…she was in love with Sasuke.

"I-I'm sorry…I-I-I just don't f-feel anything, Naruto. I mean…I do…but for Sasuke. Maybe if we can't get Sasuke back…I could be with you…but not for a few years. I'm sorry. Please…forgive me…" said Sakura.

"I understand. I…I wont force you into a relationship you don't want to be a part of. But my feelings for you won't change, Sakura. I love you," said Naruto. He stroked her cheek with his fingers as he looked into her eyes.

"I didn't read anything about kissing in my books…is that another way to broaden friendships?" asked Sai, who was walking towards them.

"The sun is going down…we should set up camp for the night," said Sakura, ignoring Sai.

"Right," agreed Naruto, glaring at Sai.

~It's times like these when I realize…I'm not totally against NaruSaku…though I do prefer SasuSaku. And I also realized something else in this chapter. I use too many …'s. I guess it's just something I do. It really bothers my teachers at school. But…this is _my _fanfiction, so HA! Now back to the story~


	4. Chapter 4:Sasuke tells Sakura

Four:

Sasuke Tells Sakura

"Sasuke-kun…you seem troubled. What's on your mind," asked the foul voice of…Orochimaru.

"What does it matter to you…you don't care," said Sasuke.

"Are you thinking about that girl again?" Orochimaru asked.

"Hmmm," Sasuke answered stubbornly.

"It's been years since you left Konoa. You've only been catching glimpses of her since," said Orochimaru.

"I hate fighting her or her friends…but it's the price I have to pay for vengeance…and power. I don't know why I care so much, though," said Sasuke.

"It doesn't matter. Just get back to your training," said Orochimaru.

"No. I'm leaving…I can't concentrate…I have too much on my mind right now," said Sasuke. He began to walk back to the inn where he was staying in the Hidden Sand Village. Orochimaru had decided to stay outside the village, for safety reasons. He was testing Sasuke's power by taking him around the most powerful lands surrounding the Land of Fire.

Sasuke slammed the door closed behind him as he walked into his room. He sat down on the bed and took something out of his bag. A book…but it was what was inside of the book that he wanted. He opened it to the middle and into his lap fell a small torn looking piece of a photograph. The picture had been taken years ago. The picture was of a young girl, who looked about twelve or thirteen. She had long, pink hair and a cute face. This was Haruno Sakura…his former team mate. She looked like this the last time they had spoken (except her hair was a little shorter, due to the fact that she cut it during battle in order to save his life). But he had seen her since then…and she looked older. From what he remembered, that cute face was now heartbreakingly beautiful. She was laughing in that picture…he wondered that beautiful older face looked like when it was laughing. He hadn't seen her laugh or smile in years. He missed it so much…but he didn't know what he wanted more: Sakura…or vengeance and power. The truth was…he was as in love with Sakura…as much (if not more) as she was in love with him!

He continued to stare at the picture for a long time. Hours could have passed (they probably did) and he wouldn't have cared. This had been taken when he, Sakura and that idiot Uzumaki Naruto had all been Genin. They were both probably Chunins and Jonins by now…and Sakura was most likely an elite medical ninja. He had cut his old teacher Hatake Kakashi and former team mate Naruto out of the picture, leaving only Sakura's pretty face. He wondered it leaving them all had really been worth it. Did killing Itachi really matter as much as he thought it did? Of course it did…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

But the door was opened anyway, without Sasuke welcoming in his visitor. Orochimaru stepped slightly inside and tossed something (someone!) onto the floor of the dark room. Who ever it was…the person looked oddly familiar.

"Have fun…just dispose of her when you're done or get board with her," said Orochimaru as he left, closing the door behind him.

Sasuke immediately lit the lamp on the bedside table and went over to the girl lying unconscious and facedown on the floor. The girl was about his age…and had pink hair. His heart skipped a beat and then began beating faster and faster. He turned the girl onto her back and saw that the girl was…Haruno Sakura. And he was right…she _was _beautiful. But…then again, she always had been.

"Wake up! Sakura!" said Sasuke, shaking her shoulder. He found that her skin felt soft to the touch. He saw her stir momentarily…but she still didn't wake. He picked her up and placed her on the bed and sat down besides her, waiting for her to wake up. This was when he really got a good look at her.

He saw that she did look older, but in a good way. This was no longer the annoying twelve year old kid that used to obsess over him. But, he supposed him thinking she was annoying was a cover up. Truth was he would have died if she found out that he had felt the same way about her.

"Sakura! Come on…" he said again.

"Sasuke!" she murmured softly.

"What? Hay! Are you awake?" he said.

"S-Sasuke….SASUKE-KUN!!" she screamed. _What the heck is going on? I thought she was unconscious! _He thought as Sakura began to toss and turn.

"Wake up!" but she didn't. _Why is she screaming my name like that? Does she know I'm here?_ She couldn't, could she? Maybe she's just dreaming…but why about him? Suddenly he saw her begin to open her eyes.

"Sakura, I…" he began.

"Naruto…I had the weirdest dream…about Orochimaru and Sasuke…but mostly Sasuke-kun…"she said softly.

"Sakura…It's me…Sasuke…"he said.

Sakura didn't know what to do. The last thing she remembered was fighting Orochimaru after he attacked their campsite. What was she doing in a hotel room with Sasuke? She didn't mind, of course…but she didn't know what came over her when she did it. She looked at him a moment in shock and then delivered a swift, but powerful blow to his face. Sasuke staggered back wards and fell down.

"What the hell was that?!" he asked. To her surprise, though, he didn't seem angry. He seemed happy (and just a bit surprised, for he didn't remember her being able to hit that hard) for some reason. But…she had just punched him in the face.

"Sakura…I'm not going to hurt you. I swear…" he said.

"Hmph! Never stopped you before!" she said.

"Listen! I need to talk to you," he said.

"Oh! So _you_ brought me here, huh?" said Sakura.

"No…Orochimaru did. I was…thinking about you earlier today and…I was distracted…Orochimaru…doesn't like it when I'm distracted. I guess he thought that if you were here I wouldn't miss you so much…" he said quietly.

"Wait…you _missed _me? But…why?" she asked him, sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest.

"I made a mistake, Sakura…I shouldn't have left you and Naruto…especially you. I-I-I'm not sure this is really worth it…I mean…worth leaving you," he said.

"Worth…leaving…me? You only abandoned our cell…its not like you broke up with me or anything…" said Sakura.

"Yea, but I feel like so much of what you and everyone else have been going through is my fault. I wasn't thinking when I chose to leave…well; I was, but only about myself. I was really stupid," he said.

"You…you…you have no idea what I've been going through," she said. "You have no idea h-how m-much pain I've had to suffer through. I feel like it's my fault that you left. If I hadn't poured out my heart to you that day you left…then…"

"No…I'm glad you did. If you hadn't, I would have still though you were like all those other girls back at the village. You know…infatuated with me just because I was smart or cool or something stupid. Do you…still feel that way…now? I mean, feel the way…you told me you did…on that day…when I left?" he asked her.

"You have…no idea. I know you'll hate me for it if I tell you…but…I'm still so in love with you…I've been in agony since you told me that stuff and left us. I know you don't feel the same way about me…but..." said Sakura, beginning to cry. She rested her face on her knees which she hugged tighter to her. Sasuke slid closer to her and turned to face her. He put his shaking arms around her in a hug. She looked up at him. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on her knees and hugging him back, tears rushing down her face. Sasuke didn't want her to cry.

"No…I don't hate you…I never did. I know how you feel," he whispered to her. "I…I love you, Sakura. I always have…no matter what I've said."

Sakura continued to cry into his shoulder…wishing she was able to speak. But she was crying to hard. Sasuke ran his fingers through her hair, then let go of her for a split second before taking her up in his arms again and kissing her full on the lips.

~ Aww! What a sweet chapter! Well…I think it's sweet, anyway…~


	5. Chapter 5: Orochimaru wreks the moment

Five:

Orochimaru Wrecks the Moment

It was bliss to her. This was something she had wanted for years and years; ever since she had been a shy and intimidated little academy student. She couldn't believe he shared the same feelings for her that she had for him. Was she dreaming? Was Naruto going to wake her up soon? No…this was real…she was sure of it. All she knew was that she wanted this moment to last forever. Sasuke was thinking the same thing. _How lucky am I!? _He thought to himself. _Orochimaru actually did something good for me. Never thought I'd say that…_

Can this really be real? Am I actually kissing Sasuke-kun? Sakura thought. It's hard to imagine that only a few hours ago I was kissing Naruto! How crazy is that! But then, of course, this moment (like all great ones) had to come to an end.

"Well, well, well…it seems you two are having fun…" came the evil drawl of Orochimaru. Of course he would just barge in and interrupt them. That was so like him. But, then again, the two of them were lucky they were still alive, having both been around Orochimaru at some point of their lives.

"Shut up," said Sasuke darkly. Though he wasn't kissing her anymore, he still held her protectively in his arms.

"What was that?" said Orochimaru.

"I said, SHUT UP!" repeated Sasuke, "I'm tired of this! I'm finished…I know I don't have any ware to go, but that's still better than being here. Who cares if I get more power? As if I want to pay the price for it, either. It's just not worth putting Sakura through all this."

"Sakura…so that's her name…perhaps bringing her to you was a bad idea. Tell me…do you really want to leave? You do know I could just hunt you down and kill you…and the girl. After all, it's like you said, Sasuke…you have no place to go. Your own village considers you a rogue ninja, and any other village I could just take down in one blow. Running is pointless," said Orochimaru, grinning evilly at them both.

"You're wrong. We have been trying to bring Sasuke back ever since he first left the Leaf Village. So he does have a place to go," said Sakura, standing up to face him.

"What if I killed you now, _Sakura_? How would that make your Sasuke feel?" said Orochimaru.

"No!" said Sasuke, standing up as well. The door to the room opened.

"Is everything alright in here?" asked a maid, trailing behind her a cart, "I heard some shouting…and I wondered if…"

"Everything is fine, ma'am," said Orochimaru, turning to face her. The woman screamed.

"Well…it seems my cover is blown," he said calmly.

Without warning, Sasuke grabbed Sakura around the waist and smashed through the window with his arm, also shielding Sakura's face. He jumped out the window, bringing Sakura to safety.

"Stay behind me," he ordered Sakura.

"NO! I can help! I'm not the weak, know it all little girl I was last time you fought along side me. I'm a lot stronger now…" argued Sakura. Sasuke didn't listen to her.

"SHARRINGAN!" he yelled before running towards Orochimaru, his hands practically overflowing with chakra. Orochimaru, of course, blocked his first attack.

"You really don't understand, Sasuke…I need you as much as you need me!" he said.

"I don't need someone who is going to use my body for evil! No matter how much power it gives me! This curse and losing everything just isn't worth it!" Sasuke yelled at him, beginning to show off a display of complicated taijutsu. Orochimaru was still much stronger than him.

Sakura began to run towards them at an incredible speed, her hands moving swiftly forming the hand signs for multi shadow clone jutsu (kage bunshin no jutsu), which Naruto had been helping her with. She produced 3 perfect clones. One began to attack from the front, one from above, and one from the rear. What Orochimaru didn't count on was the real Sakura attacking from below. All three of her clones cornered him at once, delivering blows that could create craters in the ground if they had been aiming for their. Orochimaru had no time to make a hand sign. From the ground (where the real Sakura had hidden herself when no one was looking) she blasted through the ground in front of Orochimaru, a kunai in her hand. She stabbed at a few vital points, leaving Orochimaru unconscious on the ground. But he was no where near dead…

But Sakura had exhausted almost all of her chakra, and a good portion of her stamina. She collapsed to her knees, panting. Sasuke rushed to her side…blood was trickling from Sakura's mouth.

"That was amazing! Where did you learn to do that! And those clones…they were almost as good as Naruto's…if not as good!" said Sasuke.

"N-Naruto has been h-helping…" she paused to cough, "me with my jutsu. I think I'm getting better…" she collapsed into Sasuke's lap, as unconscious as Orochimaru.

"I'd better get her back to Konoha, and to a doctor. Fast," Said Sasuke. He picked her up and began to walk down the sandy streets of the Sand Village. He walked for what seemed like hours until he saw an oddly familiar face.

Gaara, Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand was walking towards him.

"Uchiha Sasuke! Is that you…traitor. I might not be a part of Konoha, but I can still call you a traitor. I'll kill you for what you've done…for power alone," said Gaara.

"No! I'm not your enemy. I promise. I'm not with Orochimaru any more," Said Sasuke.

"Who is that in your arms?" Gaara asked.

"Haruno Sakura. You remember her, right?" asked Sasuke.

"How could I forget? She helped save my life once by bringing the only person who could reverse death to my side. She's a very…considerate woman," Said Gaara.

"Yea…but I need to be leaving with her now. She needs medical attention immediately. And it would be best for her if she awoke to friends and family. Good seeing you as an ally, instead of an enemy, Gaara," said Sasuke, walking towards the exit of the village.

~ok, this chapter sucked on ice. Why cant I get Gaara and Orochimaru's character's right?! WHY ARENT THEY CREEPY!? I also realize now that I suck at naming chapters. I mean… "Orochimaru wrecks the moment"?! What was I thinking!? But, seeing as I can't think of anything else…~


	6. Chapter 6: on the way home

Six:

On the Way Home

("On the way home"??? Jeez…)

It had been about 2 or 3 days since they had left the Sand Village. Sasuke decided to rest, for Sakura's sake. So Sasuke sat down against a tree, with Sakura against his chest. He felt her slow breathing on his neck and closed his eyes for a second, thinking about the day's events. He supposed that Orochimaru had been an unintentional blessing in disguise...if she hadn't been traveling this way, and then Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to get her. But that left Naruto to fend for him (and he knew how well that would go over). But Sasuke had no idea how much Naruto had matured…Naruto was capable of much more than he though.

Sasuke stood up with Sakura cradled in his arms and continued to walk down the path. _How long is Orochimaru going to stay unconscious? _Sasuke thought. Sasuke wasn't worried about himself …Orochimaru had threatened Sakura, and that was unforgivable.

"Mmmm," he heard a small voice moan. He looked down at Sakura and gasped. As she was beginning to open her eyes, he saw that she was more beat up than he thought. Sasuke had a few minor scratches and bruises…but, even though Sakura had barely had any contact with Orochimaru, she looked weak and in pain. But still beautiful. He couldn't imagine how that was possible.

"Sakura, are you alright? You got beaten up pretty bad," said Sasuke.

"Naruto…I can't be…with…you…" she murmured, her eyes closed again. _Naruto…what was she talking about?_ Thought Sasuke. He kneeled down, Sakura resting on his knees, unconscious.

"Sakura…It's me…Sasuke. I'm taking you back to the village. You're going to be alright," he said.

Sakura seemed to have heard him. So he stood up and continued to walk down the crude and uneven path. Then he began to wonder what would happen when he got back to the village. Would all the people think he was a traitor? Of course they would. Not that they were wrong, of course…he had walked out on them when the village needed all the ninja they had. He could never forget what he had done, either. The curse mark on his neck would always serve of a reminder…as would the searing pain that often (but not as often as it used to) come. Just thinking about it made it ach.

He continued to walk, Sakura's head resting against his chest. Her breathing was still very slow. He tried to keep his eyes on the path instead of on Sakura to keep from running into something or getting lost, but it was hard. He could feel her skin on his fingertips, and he was all too aware of her legs resting on his arms. Her shorts had grown visible shorter over the years, and she no longer wore that dress over them like she used to when they were all Genin together. Of course, he had known that for a long time, but he never really noticed what a significant difference it made.

The next day, Sakura finally opened her eyes. She didn't say much, though, and Sasuke couldn't kiss her for fear of suffocating her.

After two more days (their 6th day of traveling) Sakura was able to walk again. Sakura and Sasuke walked hand in hand all day, only stopping so Sakura could rest. After all, she was still very weak.

"So…how has your training going lately?" Sasuke asked her.

"Well…I'm a full fledged medical ninja now…and I'm a Chunin. Naruto's still a Genin," she answered.

"Well, I guess I'm not alone," said Sasuke.

"Oh, that's right! Your still a Genin as well…you've missed out on the last few Chunin exams, haven't you. But, it doesn't matter what rank you are…just what you're capable of. I mean, Naruto's still a Genin and he's perfected the Rasengan, and countless other jutsu," said Sakura.

"Your right. But…you still haven't answered my question," said Sasuke.

"Oh yea! My training…I've pretty much been doing missions now, and Lady Tsunade isn't training with me as much as she was when Naruto went off with Jirayia, who recently passed on. But it's been really hard. Tsunade really pushes me to the limit! I'm surprised I'm still alive after what we've been doing!" she said.

"What kept you going?" Sasuke asked.

"You. I knew I couldn't do much to try and get you back unless I got stronger and stopped being a burden on everyone. That's also one of the reasons I decided to become a medical ninja," she said.

"You mean…I was your inspiration to keep going, even though I betrayed you and everyone else in Konoha?" he asked her.

"Yea…I guess so…" said Sakura, blushing and looking down at her feet.

"So…you still loved me, even though I had betrayed all of you and even said all of those things to you back then. You're amazing, you know that?" said Sasuke. "Very stubborn, but you know what you want and you'll stop at nothing to get it."

"I guess that's true…but I'm not sure it made a difference. I mean…isn't it a little stupid to go through something that might kill you, just so you can see the man you love again?" she asked him.

"People do stupid stuff. Take me for example…I left you, and that's probably more stupid than what you did," said Sasuke.

"That's sweet," said Sakura blushing again, "do you know how much longer until we reach the village? I suppose I've been knocked out for a few days."

"We'll be arriving back in just a bit. Even though you're acting better, I'm going to take you to the Konoha Hospital. You're still hurt, and could still pass out again at any time," said Sasuke. Suddenly, Sakura let go of his hand and began running forwards.

"NO! Stop, Sakura, you shouldn't be running…" said Sasuke, then he saw why she was running. The village wall was just visible behind the trees ahead of them. He smiled, then began running after her. Once he was right behind her, he grabbed her around the middle and kissed her cheek. She began to laugh. For the first time in years he had heard her laugh…really laugh.

Sakura took his hand again as they approached the main gait. She was obviously glad to be back at the village. But so was he…but he was worried how they would react when he entered.

"Hay! Haruno-san! Is that…Uchiha Sasuke you've got their?" asked one of the guards.

"Yes, this is Sasuke…remember?" answered Sakura.

"Do you need back up…" he began, until he noticed that the two were holding hands.

"So you did it, huh. You actually brought Sasuke back to the village. I'd heard that you and Naruto had made that a top priority lately, huh," said the guard.

"Speaking of Naruto, where…" began Sakura.

"Ichiraku Ramen," the guard gave the obvious answer.

"Right!" said Sakura. She pulled Sasuke by the wrist into the village and down the all too familiar road to Naruto's favourite noodle shop.

~boring chapter. Deal with it. I have writers block. I write short sentences. Bla~


	7. Chapter 7: squad 7 reunited!

Seven:

Squad 7, Reunited!!!

"More ramen!" called Naruto.

"Jeez, Naruto, do you always eat when you're worried?" asked Nara Shikamaru.

"Yes! But I'm really worried about Sakura. She was taken by Orochimaru and I got knocked out before I could do anything! But Grandma Tsunade said if anything happened to return to the village emmedi…" said Naruto, but Shikamaru cut him off.

"I know I know…you told me a million times. What a drag…for both of us," said Shikamaru, lazily slurping his ramen.

"How is it a drag for you, Shikamaru?" asked a familiar voice that had just entered the noodle shop.

"Because I have to listen to it, that's why, Saku…"

"Sakura! You got away! And you've got…" Naruto's face fell, "Sasuke."

"Hey, loser," said Sasuke. Sakura giggled.

"Why are you two holding hands?" asked Naruto quietly.

"You really are an idiot aren't you? Sasuke and I are…that is to say…um…" stuttered Sakura.

"Yea…I know…Can I talk to you a minute, Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"Sure…wait here a moment, okay, Sasuke?" asked Sakura. Sasuke nodded. Sakura followed Naruto outside and around the side of the building to a bench and out of earshot.

"Look, Naruto…I know where this is going, and I'm really, truly sorry. I know that this isn't going your way…but we agreed that…" said Sakura.

"Listen…I know. And I'm happy for you guys…I'm just happy to get our team back together. But for the next while we need to keep an eye on Sasuke. I mean, how do we know if this whole transformation is for real? What if he turns on us again…just know that I'm always here for you…but I'm really happy he's back….I guess? How did you manage to get him here? Did you use your hotness to lour him here…" said Naruto. Sakura slapped him…but not as hard as she normally would have.

"Same old Sakura," he whispered.

"Don't be stupid! I was only gone a week!" said Sakura. "Come on…I'm sure that Tsunade-Sama will want to see us." And she was off, Naruto trailing at her heels like some hungry puppy. Sakura quickly peeked inside the ramen place.

"Sasuke! Were going to Lady Tsunade. Come on!" she said.

"What a drag," Shikamaru muttered unnecessarily.

Soon they arrived at the large building which housed Lady Tsunade's office. Naruto decided to take the liberty of knocking on the door a little too hard then necessary. Finally Tsunade opened the door.

"What is it?! Oh! Sakura…thank goodness your okay…and….oh…Sasuke!" she said.

"Yea! It's Sasuke!" said Sakura…she tears almost glistened in her eyes. _She's just too in love with that guy._ Naruto thought to himself.

"I suppose this means that your mission is complete! Good job, Sakura," said Tsunade.

"What about me!?" said Naruto.

"You didn't do anything but get knocked out two seconds into a fight with Orochimaru, Naruto," said Tsunade.

"But…"

"I want all of you to rest up, then report here in three days time to begin NORMAL missions!" said Tsunade, "Dismissed!"

"Come on, Sasuke…I want you to meet my parents!" said Sakura, after they had left the office. Sakura began to walk swiftly with Sasuke towards the exit of the building. Naruto quickly caught her hand, making her stop. How the heck was he supposed to tell her this…?

"Um…Sakura…About your parents," he began.

"What about my parents?! You didn't do something stupid and tell then I was your girlfriend, or something, did you?" Sakura asked Naruto suspiciously.

"No…nothing like that…do you think I could have gotten away with it?" Sakura slapped Naruto as he said this. "Fine…I'll get to the point…yesterday, 3 members from the Akatsuki infiltrated the village. They didn't hurt anyone or anything…except…well…they seemed to have a well thought out plan to what they were gonna do…they just came in, did it, did it, and left. I don't know why…these things just happen, Sakura."

"W-what does this have to do with my parents?! And which Akatsuki members was it?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know…but I think Itachi was with them…anyway, your parents, Sakura…yo-you might wanna sit down for this…" said Naruto. Sakura sat down on one of the benches that were in the hallway. Sasuke sat down beside her, tightly holding her hand, knowing Naruto was going to deliver some bad news any second. He could feel it.

"Your parents…didn't make it," Naruto said gravely.

~I guess this one had a decent chapter name…but I still suck at them. Do you think I made Naruto sound a little too grown up for his character? I mean, it's not like he acts childish…just more immature than you would expect from him too. And be ready…this next chapter is full of romance, but it's kind of depressing. Chou! oh and uh...sakura and Sasuke arent going to the hospital (heh heh...). well, yet anyway ~


	8. Chapter 8: Last of a clan

Eight:

Last of a Clan

Sakura's face fell into her hands, and Sasuke commenced to putting his arms around her in a tight embrace. She wasn't crying, however…she was just extremely shocked.

"I'm sorry, Sakura…Their just was nothing I could do…everything happened so fast that none of the other ninja of the village were able to either. The attack was unpredictable…nobody saw it coming. I had just arrived back, so I had no idea what was going on in the village, anyway," Naruto said, kneeling in front of Sakura. He tried to give her leg a comforting squeeze, but Sasuke shoved him in the face, knocking him over. Suddenly, Sakura stood up.

"I'll see you guys later…" and she was gone, out the door, and running down the street towards her home.

"Wait!" called both Naruto and Sasuke in unison.

"I'll go…Naruto, I think it would be best if I was with her right now," said Sasuke.

"Right! And I'll come too!" said Naruto.

"Um, no, that's kind of not what I meant…oh, what ever…come on!" said Sasuke, running after Sakura, Naruto following him.

A little ways down the road. Naruto began buzzing Sasuke with questions,

"How did she get you back here? Are you two seriously dating? How long do you guys expect to be together? Have you two kissed? When I kissed Sakura, and then she kissed me, it was great!"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks.

"So…you kissed her?" he asked quietly.

"Yea! And then a few seconds later she up and kissed _me_!" said Naruto. "But I don't think she really knew what we were doing until after…she had spent most of her time before that crying about you…it's all she ever seems to do now days."

"So it was just a spur of the moment kind of thing?" asked Sasuke.

"I have no idea what that means, but yea, I guess," answered Naruto. They took off running again.

When they finally reached Sakura's house, they found the door ajar. When they walked inside, they found Sakura sitting right in the middle of the floor of the living room, crying her eyes out. In her hands was a very formal-looking card that obviously had been left when the medics had taken her parent's bodies. The house wasn't as messed up as they expected. It appeared that, seeing as it was three elite rogue ninjas against two regular people who weren't ninjas, their obviously hadn't been much of a fight. But why were the Akatsuki's target Sakura's parents?

Sasuke stepped forward into the house and walked next to Sakura. He sat down next to her and put both his arms around her again.

"I know how y-you feel, Sasuke," she whispered. "I'm now the last of the clan Haruno. I just, don't understand. How could something so wonderful happen in my life, and then something horrible happen, r-right after each other?"

Sasuke simply shook his head, and then turned so he was leaning against the wooden coffee table. Sakura was placed into a sitting position across his legs, her head resting on his chest and shoulder again. She continued to cry hot tears on his bear skin (as his current outfit exposed more of his chest than that of his old, and familiar white and blue).

"Um…excuse me!" said Naruto.

"Yea...You're excused," replied Sasuke.

"Fine. Be that way…" and he walked out of the house, closing the door behind him. Jealousy was practically pouring out of his ears. After all, he wanted more than anything for that to be him comforting Sakura…not Sasuke.

Sakura, still sitting on his legs, sat up a little and faced him with closed eyes, trying to keep back tears.

"Please don't leave me," she whispered, remembering what Naruto had said to her earlier that day. She leaned forward again and began kissing his lips again. She gently pulled back, but Sasuke looked at her and shook his head in the dark (the lights were turned off for some reason) and pulled her forward for another kiss. He soon began kissing her and holding her in an almost possessive manner. Sakura now had one knee on either side of his outstretched legs, kneeling over him and kissing him back as intensely as he was to her. A pair of Sasuke's fingers found their way to the zipper on Sakura's shirt, and he slowly began pulling it down, exposing her chest. Right then, Sakura stopped kissing him and drew back.

"No," she whispered. She stood up, pulled her shirt zipper up again, and walked over to the couch that was behind the coffee table they had been sitting against. She hugged her knees to her chest, as if hiding it from Sasuke.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, also standing up to go sit down beside her. He put his arms around her again.

"Yea…I'm fine…I just don't like the idea of you trying to take my clothes off in my parent's house. I mean, it feels like they're still here…like, in the next room or something. You…would have liked them, Sasuke…I-I'm sure they eventually would forgive you for leaving then coming back…they sure had problems with that…" Sakura explained quietly, a tear coming down her face. She rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder.

"But they're gone, Sakura. You've gotta understand that," he said gently, his arms becoming tighter around her still.

"I know…but…I still don't know what I'm going to do. I'm all alone now, and I'm…that is to say, were both…the last of a clan. You, the Uchihas, and me, the Harunos," she said. Sasuke understood how she was feeling. He stood up, kissed her once more, and then headed for the front door. He expected Sakura would want to be alone to cry, just as he had.

"Wait," she said.

"Yea?" he asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice; for he really didn't want to leave.

"I-I…d-d-don't want to be alone t-tonight…Sasuke-kun," she said, blinking back more tears, and almost begging him with her eyes to stay.

"Yea," answered Sasuke, a small smile showing up on his lips. He went back over to sit beside her on the couch again. He looked at her face (Sasuke had very good eyesight) and saw her looking at him with a hard look in her eyes. Her lips were slightly parted. He couldn't take it anymore. He lunged forward on top of her and started kissing her again, which surprised poor Sakura. She let out a tiny squeal, but she was soon kissing him back just as (if not more) intensely as she had before. Again, Sasuke's fingers moved out of instinct to her shirt again. But she didn't stop kissing him. He knew she would be upset with him if he succeeded in stripping her, so he used all his self control (which added up to about zero when it came to Sakura) to not. Sakura, meanwhile, was clutching desperately at the back of Sasuke's shirt.

~Wow. What and incredibly retarded end to such a…interesting chapter. I was originally going to make Sasuke and Naruto break out into a fight in the middle of the street when Naruto told Sasuke that he and Sakura had kissed. But, in the end I decided against it because it would have made this chapter waaaaaaaay too long. Oh! And if you don't like kissing, romance or teenage drama, then stop reading this. Now. Well…you have been warned! But don't worry. This won't be more than a T (for teens or 13 and up) rated story. ~


	9. Chapter 9: Emergency!

Nine:

Emergency!

Sakura woke up the next morning in her own room, entangled in Sasuke's arms. She was topless. Sakura sighed, thinking _oh well; at least he left my bra and shorts on…_

She looked at Sasuke. His head was resting against her chest, his arms around her back. He looked like he was trying to suppress a smile that longed to be released.

"Sasuke, are you awake?" she asked him, though she already knew the answer. Sasuke opened his eyes.

"Okay, Sakura, you got me. Do you know what time it is?" he asked her. She turned her head to look at the digital alarm clock on her bedside table.

"Oh, it's…oh crap! I forgot I was supposed to see Naruto for some unscheduled training at nine. It's nine twenty-three," she said.

"Didn't Tsunade tell us to take today and tomorrow off?" he asked.

"Yes, but I don't want to forget anything," she replied.

"And he didn't invite me?" Sasuke asked her, obviously joking with her.

"Well, we sort of made these plans before we went to get you. But you can come if you want, Naruto wont mind," said Sakura as Sasuke released her. She got out of bed (being careful to keep her back to Sasuke in order to keep from losing the rest of her dignity. She took some clothes from her dresser and walked across the room to the bathroom.

"I'm going to take a shower. I'll only be a few minutes. Okay?" she asked. She opened the door to the bathroom, stepped inside, and gave Sasuke (who was still lying on the bed) a playful wave before the closed the door.

Do I lock the door? I mean…it's not like its Naruto. And he wouldn't try to come in here would he? Oh, I'm worrying too much. She took off the rest of her clothes, turned on the shower, and stepped inside.

Ten minutes later, she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. She quickly dried off and got dressed. As she was blow drying and brushing her hair, she began to notice a strange noise outside the door. It made her remember back to the first Chunin exams she had taken when Sasuke had gotten the curse mark from Orochimaru. He had sounded in so much pain….SASUKE! She pressed the button on the hairdryer quickly and simply dropped it to the floor. She slammed open the door to find that Sasuke had fallen off the bed (which she hadn't bothered making when they had gotten up, since they had simply lain on top of the covers), and was on his hands and knees on the floor. One of his hands was holding his shoulder. The curse mark!

She rushed to his side and took him up in her arms. He was holding her arms tightly now, gritting his teeth fighting back the pain. He had his lips pressed together holding back screams of torture, but his voice leaked through them in muffled sort of yelling.

"Sasuke! Stop holding back the screams! You're only going to make it worse! I need to get you to the hospital," Sakura decided. She stood up, guiding Sasuke up with her arms. As soon as they had gotten out of the door of her bedroom, a loud and obnoxious sounding knock was heard from behind the front door.

"It's Naruto! Where were you? Is Sasuke still -?"

"GET IN HERE NARUTO!" screamed Sakura. Naruto came bursting into the house and saw Sakura supporting the unconscious Sasuke in her arms at the top of the stairs.

"Oh my God," he said. He ran up the stairs and relieved Sakura of Sasuke. They rushed out of the house and ran down the street towards the Konoha Hospital. Suddenly in the middle of the street, Sasuke lashed out of Naruto's arms and onto the ground. Sakura kneeled at his side, her hands on his chest and cradling his head. He seemed unconscious. She stood up slowly with Sasuke's weight in her arms and set off running the two blocks left to the hospital.

As soon as she, Sasuke and Naruto entered, they were told their happened to be about 3 people ahead of them at the ER. Sakura sat down beside Naruto on a nearby bench, and laid Sasuke down beside her, his head resting on her knees. He was frighteningly still. His breathing was steady, however, and he almost seemed to be in just a very uneasy sleep or something. Sakura held his hand, which was somewhat of a comfort to not only her, but also to him. Just as long as she was their, he knew he would be fine. After about fifteen minutes or so, a nurse entered the waiting room through two metal double doors.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" she said, gasping slightly at the name. But when she saw the state the boy was in, she quickly opened one of the doors and called frantically inside,

"Lady Hokage! We need you, it's an emergency!"

"Tsunade-sama is here?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"I guess…" he answered dumbly.

"I'm coming!" came a voice, which revealed to be Tsunade herself. She rushed out into the waiting room, causing a lot of people to look rather surprised at the Hokage's sudden appearance. She franticly scanned the room for the emergency that the nurse had called her for. She suddenly eyed Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "Somebody get me a stretcher! Now!" she yelled to a doctor that happened to be close by her. He nodded and disappeared for a moment, reappearing with another doctor and the requested stretcher. They immediately took Sasuke from Sakura's reluctant arms, and hurried him into the back room.

"Sakura, I need to talk to you," said the Hokage.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked her.

The two women walked into an office, Tsunade closing the door to ensure no one could over hear them.

"Is it the curse mark again?" she asked her.

"Yes. Is Sasuke going to be alright?" Sakura asked Tsunade.

"I think it's time you used what we've been working on, Sakura," she answered.

"You mean…"

"Yes," said Tsunade, nodding her head, "I'll take you to him now."

And with that, she led Sakura out of the office, into the lobby again, and through the double doors. Sakura saw Sasuke laying on one of six hospital beds lined up along the wall.

"Why is he here?! I mean, shouldn't he be in intensive care? He could snap any second couldn't he?" Sakura asked Tsunade. But before Tsunade could answer, Sakura was by Sasuke's side.

"Well…you know where the chamber is…you know what to do. I guess I'll just leave you to it, then," Tsunade said, walking out of the room. One of the doctors walked over to Sakura.

"Are you authorized to be in here?" she asked her. Sakura pulled a card out of her pocket and showed it to the doctor.

"Ah…you're licensed. Carry on…" she walked away.

"Sasuke…come on…I'm going to help you now," she whispered. Sasuke seemed to be more calmed down than he had before. He finally began to stir. Once he opened his eyes, he groggily said,

"Sakura?"

"Come on, Sasuke, I'm going to help you and that curse mark of yours. Get up," she said. Sasuke followed her orders and, despite the horrific pain in his shoulder, he followed her down a series of corridors, hallways, rooms, down stairs, and down more corridors until they reached a large door. Sasuke found himself in the middle of déjà vu. He had definitely been here before a long time ago. Sakura opened the door and motioned him to follow her inside the room.

The room had an off cave like feature to it, yet it felt almost like a temple or something. The middle of the room had strange markings on the floor. Then, that meant that…

"Sakura…did you…learn curse sealing while I was away?" he asked her.

"Yes…Kakashi-Sensei taught me. Now, I assume you know what to do," she said. Sasuke nodded, and went to sit down in the middle of the floor. He took off his shirt, and placed it off to the side in the corner of the room before he sat. Sakura stood behind him.

"Are you ready? If you remember, this will hurt really badly for a bit, but I swear the curse will be sealed after that," she explained to Sasuke.

"Yea, I'm ready," he replied.

"Good," said Sakura, hoping she would not cause Sasuke too much pain as she performed the sealing jutsu.

~ I really am putting my all in this Fanfic. I haven't slept in days! Well…I have, but I think I'm becoming nocturnal. I stay up all night typing this, then crash or close to crash the next day. Oh well…hopefully when I'm done with this I can revise my schedule for when I write my next fanfiction! ~


	10. Chapter 10: title to long to put here

Ten:

Sealing the Curse/Sasuke's burden

"Yea, I'm ready," said Sasuke.

"Good," said Sakura, preparing to perform the sealing jutsu. Her hands moved in an incredible speed making the proper hand signs. Then she slammed her chakra filled hand onto Sasuke's curse mark on his shoulder. He screamed in pain, and Sakura saw a brave tear fall from his beautiful eyes. She felt like crying for putting Sasuke through this kind of pain, but she knew it was for the best.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was going through pain that was a hundred times worse than what he had gone through the first time he had had the curse mark sealed. This was pure torture…but it would be worth it. He knew that after this, he wouldn't have to worry about hurting Sakura or anyone else. But that also meant giving up all that power, and possibly killing his brother, Itachi. He balled his fists and tried not to think about that. He _would_ kill Itachi one day.

"Sasuke…it's almost finished. How are you holding up?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

"I-I-I'm fine," he gasped through clenched teeth.

"Ok…DONE!" she said, kneeling down beside him. "How do you feel?"

"Um…my shoulder hurts, but not nearly as bad as it did. Is it not going to bother me again?" he asked her.

"Only if you physically don't want to use the power of the curse mark," she said.

"Unless Orochimaru dies, right?" he asked.

"Pretty much, yea," she answered. Oh great! Now I get to kill my brother, but also Orochimaru. Its not like I don't want to kill them…I just feel like it's such a burden. Sasuke thought. It was a burden to him. As much as he wanted those two people to die by his hands, he knew he couldn't now because of his loss of power. Now it was an even heavier burden to carry with him.

"Come on, Sasuke," Said Sakura, extending her hand for him to take it. Sasuke smiled at her.

"Let's go," he agreed, forcing a smile onto his face. He gratefully took her hand and followed her back to the lobby to find that Naruto had fallen asleep on the bench they all had previously been sitting (or in Sasuke's case, lying) on. Sakura flicked his forehead, causing him to jump awake looking surprised. Sakura giggled.

"Come on, stupid! Sasuke's okay now!" she said.

"You are too harsh!" he fake-accused her. He whispered to Sasuke, "Be careful!"

"Don't worry. I can handle myself," he said.

"I heard you, Naruto!" said Sakura, sounding slightly angry with him.

"Heh heh…"

The group paraded out of the hospital and down the streets again.

"Well…we've got a whole day to spend before we start missions again. What do we do now?" Sakura asked the group. Sasuke had a few ideas of his own, but he decided against sharing those with Naruto around.

"I vote for ramen!" shouted Naruto.

"Nobody would've guessed," Sasuke sarcastically said in Sakura's ear. She giggled again, causing Sasuke to laugh with her.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"Oh…" began Sakura. "Nothing…ramen, right?"

"Yay!" the blond haired ninja started jumping up and down as Sasuke and Sakura eyed him in a very irritated fashion.

"Alright, calm down…your embarrassing me!" said Sakura. And so the group walked over to Ichiraku Ramen. Sasuke was still thinking about his loss of power. Sakura squeezed his hand, and he remembered that she was their for him. He knew that she would never leave him.

As soon as they reached the Ichiraku ramen shop, Naruto ordered a huge bowl of the daily special. Sakura and Sasuke didn't order anything. Sasuke had his reasons, and Sakura was simply not hungry (especially for ramen).

_Hay, Sakura! How 'bout we ditch Naruto?_ Was what Sasuke seemed to say to Sakura with his eyes.

"Oh, just get over it," she whispered to him. She smiled, and then turned back to Naruto.

"Naruto, do you mind if Sasuke and I leave in a few minutes?" she asked him.

"Why?" Naruto asked her.

"Well…just because! Don't be so nosey, Naruto, it's bad for you," Sakura said, blushing slightly. "Go hang out with Hinata or something!"

"Why Hinata?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Because she's standing right their, you idiot!" Sakura said pointing at a small, blue-haired girl dressed in purple that stood in the doorway.

"Hay, Hinata!" Said Naruto. Sakura slapped her forehead. Sasuke laughed at Naruto's stupidity. Hinata, meanwhile, blushed and nearly fell over at the sight of him.

"Um…h-hi, N-N-Naruto…Kun!" she stuttered.

"How's it going?" Naruto asked her.

"Um…good…Kiba-kun told me you got back from your mission to the sand village. Oh! Sasuke-kun!" she said.

"Still as shy as ever, huh," Sasuke said under his breath to Sakura.

"Only when Narutos around. Other than that, she's just quiet," said Sakura.

"Oh well, that's improvement," Said Sasuke. "Come on…let's go." Sasuke took Sakura's hand as they left the shop. As soon as they left, Hinata turned to Naruto.

"C-can I t-talk to you…alone?" she asked.

"Yea! Sure, what's up?" asked Naruto. They walked outside, and around the corner and sat down on a park bench.

"Well…you see…I've been wondering for quite a while…" she began.

"Yea?" asked Naruto.

"Um…uh…well…" she mumbled nervously.

"What? You're going to wanna speak up, Hinata!" said Naruto.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Naruto-kun! I just…that is to say I…um…uh…!"

~ I feel so extremely horrible about how stupidly predictable this story is! Oh well…I suppose I'll try to work in some twists in plot soon. Oh! But your gonna love this next chapter! Or, well…part of it, hopefully! ~


	11. Chapter 11: Naruto's smart idea

Eleven:

Naruto's "smart" decision

"What? You're going to wanna speak up, Hinata!" said Naruto.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Naruto-kun! I just…that is to say I…um…uh…!" the poor, love struck girl stuttered.

"Spit it out, already, Hinata, your driving me crazy!" said Naruto in mock irritation.

"Alright….do you…have anyone s-special, N-Naruto…k-kun?" she asked him quietly.

Naruto had to think about this one for a minute. He _was _of course still in love with Sakura…but she was all over Sasuke. And to make matters worse, he was all over _her _as well. Maybe he could use jealousy to win her over? Then he came up with a "brilliant" idea. Brilliant by Naruto's standards, anyway.

"Hay, Hinata-Chan! Will you be my girlfriend?" he asked her. Hinata almost fell over at that.

"W-what! A-are you s-serious, Naruto-kun?" she asked him.

"Uh…yea! Sure!" he answered before surprising her again by hugging her. She gave a small scream as her face turned bright red. Naruto couldn't help but think it really was kind of cute. "Meet me here at 7, alright?"

Oh my god! Is Naruto-kun asking me out? I've been waiting my whole life for this!

"Well…I'll see you later, then!" said Naruto as he walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot of Hinata, he began talking to himself.

"Well! That went well… soon Sakura will be _begging _for a piece of the action!" he smiled at his own "cleverness". Unfortunately for him, however, Sakura was off with Sasuke not giving Naruto one thought about anything.

Sakura stood against the wall of the living room of her house. Sasuke stood beside her.

"I'm board," he said, smiling slyly at her.

"Good luck with that," answered Sakura, walking towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"To change my clothes," she said, walking up the stairs, walking into her bedroom, and closing the door. Sasuke raced up the stairs in an attempt to follow her. He opened the door expecting to see her, but he didn't. He called her name, hearing her laughing in response from the bathroom. He heard a small click that meant that she had just locked the door. He sat down on the bed.

A few minutes later, Sakura came out of the bathroom wearing denim skirt, and a pink t-shirt.

"Well?" she asked him.

"It's nice, but…you'd look much better in something shorter and tighter," Sasuke smirked.

"Alright then," she replied.

She opened a drawer in her dresser and pulled out clothes for her to change into. She went into the bathroom yet again to change.

"Don't die while I'm in here," she teased. Sasuke gave her thumbs up. She closed the door again, reappearing a few minutes wearing a pink miniskirt and a white mesh shirt over a pink bra.

"Better?" she asked Sasuke.

"Um…nah, I don't like it. Take it off," he said, his smile slipping off his face as he saw Sakura's appalled expression. "Sorry."

"Yes, you are, Sasuke!" said Sakura.

"You know, Sakura, if you wont let me take your clothes off, you could at least do it yourself…ow!" said Sasuke, Sakura cutting him off by slapping him.

"You're worse than Naruto!" Sakura teased. A small smile couldn't help but show its self on her face.

"Please?" he asked. Sakura looked at him strangely. She sighed.

"Well…since you said please…" she said. She had to give him credit, though. He was awfully good at getting what he wants. She blamed herself, though, because she was kind of a pushover. She turned her back to him as she took off the mesh shirt (their really wasn't any point in taking it off because you could see her bra through it). She dropped it on the floor beside her, her heart beating quickly.

"Turn around…" said Sasuke. She did as she was told. Sasuke looked at her a moment, his heart beating as well. He though for a quick moment.

"Let me see…B. No…C? No, definitely a B. But your pretty close to a C," said Sasuke.

"What are you talking about!?" asked Sakura. Then she understood. "You pervert!" she slapped him again.

"Come on…" he said, standing up and walking to her. She covered her chest with her arms as she slowly walked away from him. He caught her up in his arms and turned her toward him. He looked at her, trying with all his might to focus on her eyes, no matter how much his gaze slipped down from them. He pulled her closer to his chest, wrapping his arms around her. He slowly walked backwards towards the bed again, still holding her in his arms. Then suddenly, he stopped moving and kissed her, his arms moving slowly up her back. He hooked his thumbs in the back of her bra, moving them slowly towards the clasp that held it together in the back. His lips moved away from her face so they were hovering very slightly above hers.

"I love you," he whispered so quietly it was almost inaudible. Sakura sighed and nodded in reply before saying,

"I love you too, Sasuke-kun." After a moment, they broke apart their embrace. Sakura went to her dresser and took out another (less…um…inappropriate) t-shirt and slipped it on.

"Aww…"

"Shut up, Sasuke!" she said in mock agitation.

~I admit…I write really short chapters. But the reason their so short is because I move from plot detail to plot detail pretty fast to keep the story moving. And besides…who wants to read a million words in one sitting? Well…some people might (depending on how good the story is), but the majority of people won't.~


	12. Chapter 12: An all new mission!

Twelve:

An all new mission!

"Naruto, d-do we have to get ramen so early? Don't you have to meet Tsunade-sama?" asked Hinata.

"Yes…but that doesn't mean that we can't get ramen!" said Naruto, who held Hinata's hand in his, dragging Hinata behind him. She looked slightly dazed and was still getting over the fact that she was Naruto's girlfriend (or…as far as she was concerned, anyway).

"No…I suppose it doesn't," she said.

Naruto and Hinata arrived at Ichiraku Ramen to find that Sakura and (to Naruto's dismay) Sasuke were standing right out side waiting for them. Sakura waved at them.

"Naruto!" she called. Then she saw that he was holding Hinata's hand. "Oh my God! Are you two finally dating?"

"What do you mean 'finally'?" asked Naruto.

"You idiot! You mean you haven't noticed?" she asked him.

"Noticed what! Jeez, Sakura-Chan…you sure know how to confuse a guy!" said Naruto.

"Ugh! Hinata's liked you for years…ever since we were academy students! Everyone knew that…except you! Well…at least you've finally figured out that you share the same feelings for her as she does for you. Good job, Naruto…I guess," said Sakura.

_Wait…what! You mean, she's not jealous!? So I though out this brilliant plan for nothing?!_ Thought Naruto.

"Well…we better get going, then…we probably don't want to piss Tsunade-sama off on our first day back as Squad 7," said Sasuke.

"Yea…um…see yah later, Hinata-Chan!" said Naruto, quickly taking her up in his arms and hugging her to his chest. A small and surprised sound issued from Hinata's mouth. Naruto looked at Sakura from the corner of his eye for any type of reaction. Their was none. He let her go, some what disappointed with Sakura's lack of interest…but some how that hug had been _a bit _comforting.

"Bye, Naruto-kun!" Hinata said.

"See yah!" said Naruto, kissing Hinata on the cheek (much to Hinata's surprise) just to see what Sakura would do. To his surprise, however, he found her skin very soft, and for a moment he longed to kiss her lips rather than her cheek.

"Will you two hurry it up already?" asked Sakura, holding Sasuke's arm.

"Fine. See you, Hinata-Chan!" Naruto waved and started walking down the road with Sakura and Sasuke towards lady Tsunade's office.

Once inside, a very irritated Tsunade-sama greeted them.

"You brats (not including you and Sasuke, Sakura) are ten minutes late!" she said.

"So basically your blaming me, huh, grandma Tsunade?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up. Now your mission concerns all three of you personally. Sasuke, because you hate him and killed your family. Sakura, same as Sasuke. Naruto, because you just don't like him. You three are going to kill Uchiha Itachi!" she said.

"But…we have no idea where he is!" said Sakura.

"Well, he can't be far, after all, wasn't he in the village just two days ago? I know I'm totally against the whole 'avenger' idea…he still is an S class criminal that needs to be stopped. Obviously he's trying to kill off families with powerful and highly trained shinobi. Who knows what he could do next! And don't for get…Orochimaru is still out their and he needs to switch bodies soon. I mean. Its been four years instead of the original three. So get going, you three!" she explained.

"But! What are we supposed to-!" exclaimed the three.

"Go!" said Lady Tsunade, pushing the group out of her office.

Once outside, the group with their mission gear walked towards the exit of the village. Naruto and Sakura were complaining about how they didn't know what the heck they were supposed to be doing…and it was surprising for Sakura to not know what she was doing…she was a genius. Sasuke meanwhile, was still thinking about what went over the day before regarding his curse mark. He couldn't use it. Sakura sure had sealed it tight…sure he could use it if he wanted to betray Konoha…and wanted power…and wanted to kill his brother. And he wanted all that. The sad sorry truth was he hated that stupid village. But he loved one thing about it that almost made up for his loss of power. Haruno Sakura. The love of his life. If he betrayed Konoha…he would lose her. He didn't care about Naruto or anyone else. He was torn between two things: his love for Sakura…and killing Itachi.

Did the others really believe they would be able to kill Itachi and who knows how many Akatsuki members? They had no chance. Especially with Sasuke at his loss of power. All he had was his Sharringan…and his wasn't as highly trained yet as Itachi's was. But…what if he didn't have to leave Sakura…after all, she had asked him herself for him to bring her with him when he had originally betrayed Konoha four years and so many months ago. But…would she go with him so willingly this time around? After all…she was a lot smarter and stronger. He grinned slyly at him self at his next thought. _What if I got her drunk enough…_

Stupid idea….besides, they were underage. Being seventeen just didn't cut it. He continued to get lost in his thoughts, only pretending to be paying attention to whatever the hell Sakura and Naruto were discussing.

"No, Naruto, you're so wrong! Of course its better to attack from all sides, that way you corner the enemy. How can you think that just attacking from behind is better when one, that's cowardly, and two, you ALWAYS attack from all sides! What do you think, Sasuke?" Sakura was saying.

"Huh?" he asked. Sakura shook her head, smiling at him in a way he found very moe. He couldn't picture that sweet girl drunk no matter how hard he tried. Yet…deep down in his perverted teen boy brain…

"Um…Sasuke? What do you think?" she asked him.

"Um…yea, Sakura…whatever you just said. Totally," he said, having no clue what she was talking about. Sakura winked at him, and turned to Naruto.

"See? Sasuke agrees with me," she said, laughing slightly.

"But, he wasn't even li…!" began Naruto, who was cut off by Sakura's fist meeting his mouth.

_God, she's hot when she's mad…or any other time…I wonder if I did manage to get her drunk enough would she stri-?! _But he was quickly shaken from his thoughts of Sakura when she poked his forehead, trying to get his attention again.

"Hay! Sasuke…we better get going. Who knows where he is by now," she said before kissing him right below his left ear. For a split second he could have sworn he felt her tongue on his skin. He gasped…thinking of the outcome of getting her drunk again. He wanted to forget about their mission and rush her back to her bedroom…or his. He wanted to wrap his arms around her amazing figure. He wanted to-

"Well, let's go already!" said Naruto, looking slightly red in the face.

"Coming, coming…jeez, Naruto, take it easy, will yah?" said Sakura, taking herself forcefully away from Sasuke. _Hmm…I really can't wait for this mission to be over…_ Sasuke thought.

The three walked down the road leaving the village, Naruto still babbling on about something stupid, Sakura constantly telling him to shut up, and Sasuke deep in thought.

About six or so hours later, the team decided to stop and take a break. They were near a small town (much much much smaller than their beloved Konoha), in which they found a cute little tea shop (or, rather, it was cute in Sakura's opinion). They sat down at a table near the back and ordered their tea. Once served, Sakura slipped her hands over Sasuke's eyes, shielding his eyesight very badly. He was still able to see.

"What are you doing…" Sasuke asked her,

"Oh…nothing," she answered, her voice very coy. She took his cup of tea with her free hand and raised it to her lips. Sasuke, being able to see everything that she was doing, saw her slowly and barely noticeably lick the rim of his tea cup. He saw she was grinning. He took her hand off his eyes and took his tea back from her. He looked at her as if teasingly saying _did you do anything to it? _

"Oh, Sasuke…I _swear _I didn't do anything to your tea," she said, her voice dripping with obvious (and in Sasuke's opinion, extremely sexy) sarcasm.

"Great!" he said, eyeing her in a way that told her he knew. He pressed his lips to the very spot on the tea cup that Sakura had, and drank his tea.

"Gross, Sasuke! You do know that she…!" began Naruto, getting cut off by Sasuke.

"Yes, I know that, teme! Just shut up!" said Sasuke. Sakura giggled, pointing to her lips in a very suggestive manner.

"Anyway," she said, turning away from Sasuke, "We need to figure out a plan." She reached into her pack and pulled out a very detailed map of the land of fire and all the surrounding lands.

"Where the hell did you get that!?" asked Naruto.

"You have one too, you know," she said. "Anyway…Itachi was here just two days ago. That means that he can't have gotten far…I mean, he could be very far away by now if he hadn't just committed the crime of murdering the Land of Fire's princess' host family…but he would need to keep a low profile and-,"

"Princess?!"

~I cant believe I didn't think of it before! Haruno Sakura an undercover princess! I have been blessed by the fanfiction gods! I'll explain more in the next chapter. Anyway, this is one of my longer chapters. I think I am going to start making them longer…so that might mean more time between now and the next update. I won't give any specific time on the next update, but expect it soon. Please comment on my story to give me more motivation!!!!~


	13. Chapter 13: Princess!

Thirteen:

Princess?!

"Princess?!" said Sasuke and Naruto in unison. Sakura looked as though she had just spilled one of her most precious secrets…which she had.

"Um…no…I didn't say that…" she began.

"Yea yah did!" said Sasuke and Naruto.

"Well…don't say it so loudly! People will here you…theirs a reason I've been hiding it for so long, you know!" Sakura whispered angrily…her anger aiming more towards Naruto. "Lets talk outside…It's time you knew anyway."

Sakura stood up, grabbed both Sasuke and Naruto's hands (putting a large smile on Narutos face), and pulled them outside after throwing some money down on the table.

"Princess!?" Sasuke and Naruto yelled again, as the three made their way out of the tiny town and back on their original trail.

"Yes. I am Princess Haruno Sakura…princess and heir to the throne of the Land of Fire. Why else do you think Lady Tsunade-sama let me train with her?" she explained in a very bored voice.

"So…your parents…weren't really your parents then? How come you seemed so depressed about it?" asked Sasuke.

"Those were my 'host parents'. Meaning, that I only live in Konoha for my own safety. My real parents live in the hidden palace city very far away from here. I only see them once a year. My host parents…weren't the real Harunos, but they seemed more like parents then my real parents did. Didn't you think it was strange that I had the same last name as the royal family? Naruto, you wouldn't because you're dumb. I'm surprised I never got any questions from you, Sasuke…not to mention anyone else,"

"So…let me get this straight. You're the king's daughter everyone said died when she was three years old, you were sent to live in Konoha with some fake parents…right?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. So…that must mean that the reason Itachi killed your host parents was because he must have wanted to force you out of home, and lead the Akatsuki to the hidden palace city and kill your real parents…resulting in a takeover," said Sasuke.

"Yes…you see…when I was three years old, the Akatsuki found out the location of and infiltrated the old location of the hidden palace city. They took me prisoner, and demanded my parents surrender the Land of Fire to them, in order for them to get me back. They didn't succeed, however, because several ninjas from many of the cities and villages, like Konoha, found them and fought to get me back. They sent me away to keep me safe. I obviously look much different than I did when I was three years old, so they can't have found out that is was..well, me, until recently. But it is a fact that they have been killing of members of important families and clans, and even completely murdering some of these families. So…I'm not the last of my clan after all. Close too it…after all, it's just me and my parents left in our family…but we are possibly and most likely the Akatsuki's main target," explained Sakura.

_If I did manage to kidnap her…that would mean double or even triple points for me. Not only would I be able to keep my powers, but I would get credit from _Orochimaru _for capturing the princess, keep Sakura safe from the Akatsuki, and keep her to myself. Genius._

"I suppose we have to protect you then, huh, Sakura!" said Naruto.

"I don't need any help, Naruto! I can take care of myself…I'm a big girl," said Sakura.

"As correct as you are, Sakura, you don't mind me protecting you?" asked Sasuke flirtatiously.

"Hmm…no, not really," Sakura answered.

"Unfair!" said Naruto accusingly.

"Anyway…back to our mission. I heard that the Akatsuki members are spit up into teams of two. So Itachi will most likely either be with the rest of the Akatsuki…or his partner. Chances are, if we can kill Itachi, we'll be able to kill at least one of the other Akatsuki members," said Sakura.

"Um…are you sure you should be facing any of the Akatsuki?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm not a baby…remember, I'm a big girl!" she fake-pouted, sticking out her bottom lip at him.

"Uh huh!" said Naruto, "You go, girl!"

"Shut up," said Sakura and Sasuke.

The group continued walking down the narrow path, Naruto in the lead, and Sakura and Sasuke walking behind him. Sasuke walked with his arm tightly around Sakura's waist. Her hip accidentally bumped him, leading to about thirty minutes of her apology…and Sasuke telling her not to. Naruto, meanwhile, was pretending to control his anger and not take notice their obvious flirting.

"Are we their yet?!" asked Naruto.

"I don't know! I don't even know where were going! Lady Tsunade didn't give us any information," said Sasuke.

"Well...I'm sure we'll end up running into them sooner or later," Sakura said after sighing.

"We better," said Sasuke. "It's getting dark,"

"Great! Then let's stop for the night. This is a really boring mission," said Naruto, plopping down n the ground. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other and started putting wood together for a fire. Sasuke put his arm out in front of her as she started to pick up a piece of wood.

"No…you shouldn't have to help…princess," Sasuke whispered in her ear. Sakura placed her hands on her hips.

"Just because you just learned I was a princess, doesn't mean you need to treat me like one. I'm still a ninja, remember, Sasuke?" noted Sakura.

"Oh…I know…I wasn't referring you as the Land of Fire's princess…" began Sasuke, pausing for a moment to make sure that Naruto was busy trying to figure out how to start a fire without help or the use of matches, "…I was referring to you as _my _princess."

"That's extremely cheesy," said Sakura, turning back to her work.

"Cheese?!" exclaimed Naruto, looking up from his feeble attempt at a fire. Sakura shook her head and walked over to Naruto, and pointed to the box of matches sitting right beside him.

"Baka! Use the matches, smart one!" she said. She glanced up at the sky. "And hurry…it's officially dark." Sakura went to her bag and pulled out some sweat pants and spaghetti strapped tank top and proceeded to a thick bunch of trees. Sasuke followed her from behind before being stopped by her.

"Changing, Sasuke!" she said. After a moment, she reappeared from behind the trees, now changed. Sasuke seemed to miss the skimpy short shorts she wore those two nights they were together. But, he wasn't complaining…to him, those sweat pants still had a way of looking sexy on her.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a blanket and sat down on it. Naruto, meanwhile, managed to get a fire up and going (finally).

"SUCCESS!" he yelled.

"Whatever…I'm going to sleep. We need to set back out and get a full day of…whatever we're supposed to be doing…early tomorrow," said Sakura.

"Your not going to eat?" asked Sasuke.

"No…I'm not hungry," she replied. She lay down on the blanket in front of the fire (as with the night breeze it was a bit chilly) and closed her eyes. She found it awkward, however, because she could feel both Naruto and Sasuke's eyes on her.

"Naruto…just…go sleep somewhere else," said Sasuke.

"But I worked sooo hard on the fire!" Naruto complained childishly.

"Ugh," was Sasuke's reply. He went over to Sakura, laid down beside her, and put his arms around her in a very possessive and protective manner. Naruto looked absolutely green with envy. Sakura could feel his arms over and around her body, hugging her close to him. You would think she was used to this by now, as she had spent the previous two nights like this, but she wasn't. Because Naruto was still in their presence, she decided to pretend she was sleeping as to not give Sasuke any ideas. Sasuke tried moving his lips from her cheek to her lips to her neck, but she stayed still. _This woman sure sleeps like a rock! I'd try harder to wake her up, but that baka Naruto is here…_ Sasuke thought.

"Go to sleep!" said Naruto, who had been watching them.

"Shut up, dobe!" said Sasuke.

"Teme!" retorted Naruto.

"Dobe!"

"Teme!"

"Dobe!"

"TEME!"

"DOBE!"

"Shut up!" said Sakura, her tone of voice making it obvious that she hadn't been a sleep.

"I knew you weren't really a sleep!" lied Sasuke. She looked at him.

"Just go to sleep!" she said.

"Come on, Princess," Sasuke said quietly, kissing her on the lips. She smiled, and gave into the kiss passionately. Naruto fake-gagged.

"Get a room!" he said.

"Um…unless you haven't noticed, WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS! THERE IS NO_ ROOM _ANYWERE!" said Sakura, breaking away reluctantly from the kiss. "Can you just shut up, Naruto?! I understand if you're jealous…but…HEY! Wait a minute! You shouldn't be complaining, Naruto…you have a girlfriend!"

"I…do?" Naruto asked stupidly.

"Hinata, you idiot!" said Sakura, pulling away from Sasuke and standing up to face Naruto.

"OH!" said Naruto.

"How the hell could you forget about her!?" yelled Sakura. "How can you forget you have a girlfriend?"

"Um…yea…"

"Just…go to sleep!" said Sakura, laying back down beside Sasuke. Sasuke glared at Naruto when Sakura wasn't looking.

"Teme," mumbled Naruto. Sakura "sh!"ed him before settling back next to Sasuke, his arm around her back.

The next morning, Naruto was awake before Sasuke and Sakura. He watched them (by "them" he mostly meant Sakura) sleeping soundly. He saw Sasuke's face dangerously close to hers, resulting in a twinge of jealousy in the pit of Naruto's stomach. Sakura was laying on her back, with one of Sasuke's arms around her shoulders and the other directly below her bust. Naruto watched in envy as Sakura's chest rose and fell steadily to her breathing as she slept. He saw the hand Sasuke had around her shoulder accidentally (or so it looked) brush her spaghetti strap down her shoulder, leaving only her white bra strap. Naruto saw his fingers move to brush that away too, so he did the only thing he could think of to stop Sasuke from doing anything embarrassing in his sleep in front of him.

"HEYSASUKEANDSAKURA-CHANWEHAVETOGOBEFOREWE WASTETOOMUCHTIMESLEEPINGANDNOT LOOKINGFORITACHI-!"

"SHUT UP!" yelled Sasuke, sitting up; interrupting Naruto's extremely loud ranting. Sakura sat up, rubbing her eyes, and glared at Naruto.

"Let's just go, you guys," she mumbled.

"Alright, Sakura-Chan!" said Naruto.

"DON'T call me that," warned Sakura, "You have a girlfriend!"

"Um…yea. Sure thing….Sakura," answered Naruto, slightly disappointed. He was beginning to consider telling Sakura the truth about how he was only using Hinata. He knew it would break poor Hinata's heart, which surprisingly only made him feel worse.

Sakura slipped behind the trees to change again. After that, the group packed up and continued down the road. It was very early, as Naruto had gotten up before the sun had risen, and he had woken up Sasuke and Sakura just as the sun was rising. Naruto was shuffling behind Sasuke and Sakura at a surprisingly slow pace. He was thinking about Hinata. He thought about how he was deceiving her, and felt a pang of guilt in his chest. She didn't deserve that…and besides…his brilliant plan to win over Sakura with jealousy wasn't exactly working. Now that he thought about it, Hinata's face (along with the rest of her) was rather cute, if not very pretty. Not only that, but she had always been an amazing friend to him, and despite her shyness towards him…she was a very strong ninja. She also understood and admired him in a way nobody else had before…_oh my God! Does she really, truly…_love _me? Just like everyone says? _Thought Naruto. _Do I…love…Hinata too? No…I love Sakura-Chan…but…Hinata's just…and besides, Sakura doesn't love me._

"Naruto, you're lagging. Hurry up!" came Sakura's voice. He looked at her and saw her in a new light. He really did love Hinata…and he wasn't just saying that to clear his conscience about lying to Hinata and everyone else about being her boyfriend.

"Hey…Sakura?" he asked her.

"Yea," she answered him, looking at Naruto who had caught up to her and Sasuke.

"Well…do you remember what we talked about…before you got captured by Orochimaru…you know…in the woods when we…kissed?" he asked.

"uh huh…" she answered.

"Well…forget it…kay?" he asked, a blush rising in his cheeks as he though of Hinata. Sakura noticed this.

"Sure," she said, smiling. 'Hinata?' she mouthed. Naruto looked at her…then nodded. She hugged him, resulting in Sasuke pulling her by the shoulder; Sasuke had a jealous side to him as well. Naruto looked at her strangely.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Oh please, Naruto! I knew all about your genius plan to win me using jealousy. I'm the brains of this team, remember? I mean, you wouldn't just randomly ask her out just like that after not realizing her feelings for her," Sakura said.

"Oh…well…yea," he said, blushing.

"Great…now that we've got that figured out…can we get going now?" asked Sasuke.

~My longest chapter yet, hence why it took so long. I do have my end of semester tests coming up in a few weeks (and I got into an early college!) so I do have to study more. The end of eighth grade is coming up! This means that the next chapter might take a little bit longer. This chapter was sort of pointless, but you do learn a bit more about the plot, and about Naruto's feelings. Ooooh…interesting. Anyways, please comment on this, and if u have any questions about what's happened so far in the story, please don't hesitate to ask them. Just no flaming. And if I happen to get any details wrong, please just tell me, but in a nice way…thanks!~


	14. Chapter 14: The Meeting

Fourteen:

The Meeting

The three continued to walk down the road. All three were beginning to sense another presence. Sasuke was praying that they wouldn't run into Itachi…he knew they would be either fatally injured, or killed if they did. And to make matters worse (or better, depending on how you looked at it) they also had Sakura with them, which normally wouldn't have made a difference…but they all knew they she was in danger especially now.

"You know, I just thought of something…if Tsunade knew that Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki had figured out who you were, then why did she send you on this mission?" asked Sasuke.

"She trusts me, and knows what I am capable of," she answered. Naruto was having flashbacks of all the times she had punched him in the face.

"I'll say!" said Naruto.

"Whatever," said Sakura, ignoring him.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto continued to walk, still feeling the presence of another person…or persons. They heard a twig crack near them, in the brush.

"Did you hear that?" asked Sakura quickly.

"No…hear what?" asked Naruto.

"That noise! I think someone's coming," Sakura whispered.

"I'm sure it was just you're imagination," said Sasuke.

_Snap!_

"Their! Did you hear it?"

_Snap!_

"Ok, now I'm scared!" said Naruto.

"Shut up, you baby," said Sakura.

"She called me baby…I told you girls loved me, Sasuke!" said Naruto.

"You never told me-!"

"Hinata!" hissed Sakura, reminding Naruto, and putting the mental image of Hinata's smiling face into his head. He blushed at the thought of her.

"SAKURA GET DOWN!" yelled Sasuke, rushing up behind her and shoving her to the ground, his arms shielding her head, and his body covering hers. A shuriken buzzed passed their heads as they went down.

"Sasuke, I don't think its very appropriate to be…" began Sakura.

"Well, Sasuke, I see you've taken _quite _a liking to the Princess!" came a horribly familiar voice.

"Itachi," growled Naruto.

And it was…Uchiha Itachi…standing in front of them.

_If we kill him, then our mission is over…but we could very well be killed in the process _thought Naruto.

Sasuke looked hatefully at his brother. He knew he couldn't kill him in his current state, but that didn't matter…he had to protect the princess…his princess.

"Haruno Sakura…" Said Itachi.

"Touch her, and I'll kill you," said Sasuke darkly. Itachi laughed.

"You can't kill me!" said Itachi.

"Really?" asked Sasuke, using a sarcastic tone, even though he knew full well that his brother was right.

He stood up and faced Itachi, leaving Sakura on the ground. She made to stand up, but Sasuke put his hand up, signaling for her to stay where she was.

"Little brother…you can't kill me because you're heart is still full of love…for that girl," Itachi said, pointing in Sakura's direction.

"So…if I want to kill you…I have to hate everyone…not just you?" asked Sasuke sarcastically. Itachi laughed again.

"You can't kill me for another reason as well…that power of yours…I don't know what it ever was…or how you got it…but I can see by looking at you that its gone…you seem less confident," said Itachi.

"Shut up!" said Naruto.

"Leave them, Naruto! This is Sasuke's fight!" said Sakura.

_No…last time I checked this was all of our mission. But…even if we all fight, we won't win; Narutos still an ass, and Sakura shouldn't be fighting anyway, no matter how strong she is _though Sasuke.

"Itachi! What's going on!" came a voice, coming from the same direction that Itachi had come from. Kisame, Itachi's "partner in crime" appeared before them. "Oh…I see you found her…them…the princess."

"Leave me, Kisame! I'm going to kill my brother today," said Itachi, glaring at Sasuke.

"Your right…you can beat these kids…but…isn't that the nine tailed fox kid?" asked Kisame, pointing at Naruto.

"I'm not fighting him…but on the other hand, both he and Sasuke will try to protect the princess. The only way we can get her, is to kill all three of them," said Kisame.

"Itachi-!" yelled Sasuke. Itachi pushed him to the side, and walked over to Sakura.

"Sakura…I didn't know that Sasuke was the type to fall in love…especially with his former team mate. Not that he has bad taste or anything…you've really grown up since you and Sasuke were both children," said Itachi.

"Get. Away. From. ME!" she yelled, punching him in the face. Itachi looked slightly stunned as he staggered back. She stood up to face him.

"No, Sakura," said Sasuke calmly.

"This is our mission. All three of us…together are going to kill you, Uchiha Itachi!" Sakura said stubbornly, looking at Sasuke. She pulled a kunai from the holster on her leg, her fingers brushing across her bare skin causing Sasuke's heart to skip a beat.

_No, _he though, _don't get distracted…this will be over soon…then you can go home and-_

"You look a bit dazed, Sasuke…sure you think you can take me?" Itachi laughed evilly.

"Yea…shut up, Itachi…" said Sasuke.

Sakura tightened her grip on the kunai she was holding .

"You won't touch me with that knife, little girl," said Itachi.

"Quit talking," she said, attempting to stab him.

"Stop! Your only going to hurt yourself, Sakura-Chan!" Sasuke yelled at her.

"Sasuke, I-!"

"CHIDORI! 1000 BIRDS!" Sasuke yelled, cutting Sakura off mid sentence. Sasuke ran towards Itachi, who was now holding Sakura's neck in an attempt to choke her to death. He crashed into his brother, knocking him down, causing Sakura to land several feet away from them. She let out a small, painful gasp…resulting in momentarily triggering Sasuke's emotions.

Kisame was currently battling with Naruto, who had just used the Rasengan…and was putting up a very good fight. Naruto always seemed to always have one eye on Sakura and Sasuke making sure they were alright.

"AAAAAUUUUUUHHHHHH!" he heard an agonized someone scream. He looked over his shoulder and saw Sasuke kneeling on the ground, holding his head.

_NO…He didn't! he didn't use the Mangekyo Sharingan, did he?!_

"For the next twenty four hours, you will watch me repeatedly stab your precious little girlfriend," said Itachi, sounding almost emotionless. Sakura watched in sorrow as she saw a tear run down a trembling Sasuke-kun. She tried to get up, but Naruto had given up on Kisame and gone to her side.

"We're done here, Kisame…time to leave my brother. Either he will be scarred for life more than he already is, or he will die from the pain and depression soon after or during the twenty four hours," said Itachi. Kisame nodded, and followed Itachi into the treetops and out of sight.

"Damn it!" cursed Naruto.

Sakura got up, and hurried over to Sasuke and put her arms around him. She knew he had no idea she was their…the only thing that Sasuke was aware of, was the fact that Sakura was being stabbed to death by his brother. He knew it was an illusion, but it was too painful to bear. It looked all too real. Sakura pressed her lips to his ear and began to whisper to him.

"Sasuke! It isn't real!" she said. More tears came from Sasuke's closed eyes…he was trembling worse than before. Sakura saw his fingers slowly move to her hand and grasped it tightly. His other hand grasped a kunai knife by his shuriken holster. He slowly raised the sharp kunai knife and stabbed his leg. His eyes jerked open, and he screamed.

"SASUKE-KUN!" screamed Sakura. Sasuke's now open eyes moved their gaze to the gorgeous girl holding him in her arms.

"Sakura-Chan," he whispered, wincing at the pain in his leg. She remembered years ago during the Chunin exams when he had to endure stabbing himself when both she and Sasuke had fallen victim to another illusion of death.

"I…I can heal that…" she said. She closed her eyes and focused. She placed her hand on Sasuke's wound and focused her chakra as best as she could. After a few minutes, Sasuke finally began to relax, and rested his head on her shoulder with his lips so close to her neck, she felt his now steady breathing on her.

"Ok…your all good, Sasuke…can you stand?" she asked him.

"Yea…I think so…" mumbled Sasuke. Sakura stood up and held out her hands for Sasuke, who gladly took hold of them. She helped him stand up, and Naruto came over to them.

"Good…your alright, Teme," teased Naruto.

"Sh…shut…up…b..baka…" stuttered Sasuke.

"What's the matter?!" asked Sakura, a very worried tone in her voice.

"I…you…Sakura…I'm going to kill Itachi…even if I die in the process…he can't do that to you, Sakura," Sasuke said quietly.

"That wasn't real, Sasuke-kun…just an illusion…not even," Said Sakura.

"Do you know what those few minutes…that felt like hours…felt like? Seeing…the one you love the most…being stabbed repeatedly by your own brother…and the person who killed all of your other loved ones?" he asked her.

"You…stabbed yourself to distract yourself by the pain," said Sakura.

"Yea," said Sasuke, "Lets just…get back to Konoha as fast as we can."

"Well, that mission was a complete waist of time!" complained Naruto as they headed back the way they came.

"If we continue to follow them, then we'll die. Tsunade will understand, after all…she can't really get mad at you, Sakura, seeing as you have more power than her," Said Sasuke.

"I guess your right," Said Naruto.

~TIME SKIIIIIIIIIIIIP! ~

"So…you couldn't kill Itachi?" asked Tsunade.

"I'm sorry our mission failed," said Sakura.

"No…that's fine…" said Tsunade, sounding distracted. "Listen, Sakura?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" asked Sakura.

"When you get the chance…I think its time to tell your team mates about…you," she said.

"OH! I uh…already kind of let it slip," said Sakura, blushing.

"Good…I want all of you on stand by for you're next mission, you three," said Tsunade.

"Alright," Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto ad-libbed.

"Dismissed!"

Once the team had walked outside of the Hokage's place, Naruto turned to the other two,

"So…WHO WANTS RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!?" he burst out.

"NO!" said Sasuke and Sakura in unison.

"Aww…come on! All you two are gonna do is go back to Sakura's house and make-out or something!" said Naruto.

"Don't be stupid…I was going to take her to my house!" said Sasuke.

"Isn't your apartment kind of…" began Naruto.

"Uchiha Complex, Baka!" said Sasuke.

"Well…I don't know…I need to take a shower, and I have some reading to catch up on…" said Sakura.

"Just take a shower at my place, Sakura!" said Sasuke, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the street.

"Alright…bye, Naruto!" she called, waving at him.

Naruto's eyes caught sight of someone looking at him from behind a building. He saw that long blue hair and those beautiful misty eyes…Hyuuga Hinata…

"N-Naruto kun!" she said, running towards him. He took her up in his arms and hugged her tightly to him. Hinata's face blushed a deep red colour.

"How was your mission?" she asked him.

"It was great! Except for the part when Teme kept putting the moves on Sakura, and we got our butts kicked by Itachi and Kisame. Other than that, it was great!" Naruto said.

"Oh…" said Hinata, not wanting to point out her boyfriend's obvious failure.

"So…are you up for some ramen?" he asked her. She giggled.

"Again? Sure!" she said.

Oo*o0o*oO

"Oh my God, Sasuke!" this is where you live?!" asked Sakura in awe.

"Well…not recently," said Sasuke.

"I…didn't expect you to wanna come back her after…" Sakura's voice trailed off.

"Yea…" Said Sasuke, his voice suddenly cold. Sakura noticed his obvious discomfort and kissed him on the cheek, her lips lingering on his face for a moment, breathing him in. she sighed…_I love you…_she thought to herself.

"Let's just go inside," Said Sasuke. He took her hand again and took her into the house. They went down several halls and passageways, passed many rooms, and all the while Sasuke's face looked grave.

"We don't need to be here, you know," said Sakura. They entered a room.

"Were here…my…bedroom," he said the word rather nervously. "The bathroom is right over their." Sasuke pointed to a door.

"Thanks!" said Sakura, trying to keep the mood happy. Sasuke was rather good at wrecking the mood of a place.

She walked into the bathroom, and closed the door behind her. He heard a click that signified that she had locked the door. Every time she walked into a bathroom to shower or change her clothes, all he could think about was the fact that she was actually taking off her clothes in their. He heard her turn on the water and step into the shower. Sasuke now knew that Sakura had hot water running down her body…his heart beat sped up as he though of it. He began thinking…

_No…snap out of it! Stay focused…it's not like you'll have to stay here much longer anyway...._Sasuke thought to himself.

"Hey…Sakura?" Sasuke asked through the door, speaking loudly so she could hear him over the water.

"Yea?" Sakura answered.

"D'you…wanna go out tonight?" he asked her. He paused as he waited for her answer.

~Wow…I just realized this now, but…in this story, Sasuke is really perverted when it comes to Sakura. This chapter isn't as long as I want it…and just as a heads up, I probably won't be putting Sai in here anymore. I just really don't like him and don't see how he fits into the story. Wow! Chapter fourteen already! I'm so happy! Just remember, my precious little readers, y COMMENTS MAKE AMIMEPRINCESS411-CHAN HAPPY!!!! Eh hem…uh, anyway, just in case anyone is wondering why the hell this story is called "friends or foes", then you will find out soon!!!!!!!! ~


	15. Chapter 15: Think twice before you drink

Fifteen:

Look twice before you…drink!!

"D'you…wanna go out tonight?" he asked her. He paused as he waited for her answer.

"Yea…Just nothing illegal, 'kay, Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura. Sasuke chuckled…she had no idea.

"I'm not making any promises, Sakura-Chan!" he fake-joked. Sakura giggled, and after a few more minutes, she turned off the water of the shower. Moments later, she opened the door wearing her mission clothes.

"If were going out, then I'll need to run home and change and put on my make up, okay, Sasuke?" she asked him.

"No problem. And…um…let me choose out your outfit…alright?" said Sasuke.

"Why…?" Sakura asked, confused.

"I…um…just trust me, okay?" was all Sasuke could think of saying without giving away what he was actually thinking.

_**What are you so worried about?**_ Inner Sakura asked Sakura.

_Nothing…didn't I get rid of you forever ago?!_ Thought Sakura.

_**You can't get rid of me, honey!**_

Sakura laughed at herself. She looked at Sasuke, now lying on his side on his bed. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him off the bed.

"Its late afternoon…I guess we should get to wherever you're taking me around seven. So we have about two hours," calculated Sakura.

Sakura led Sasuke through the house again and out the door.

Oo*o0o*oO

"You idiot! How the hell did you two let yourselves get beet by three kids?! And two of them were genins!" yelled the Akatsuki leader, once Itachi and Kisame had arrived back at their meeting place.

"Your forgetting that Sasuke was one of those Genins, and the other one was the nine tails kid," said Itachi.

"And besides…you told us to capture the princess alive. If we tried to hard, then she would possibly end up dead," said Kisame.

"I'll bet the nine tails kid didn't even go nine tails…I guess you weren't as good as you thought you were!" giggled Tobi. Deidara, who was standing next to Tobi, slapped his forehead.

"SHUT UP, TOBI! DIDN'T I JUST SAY THAT WE COULDN'T KILL HER?!" Kisame snapped at Tobi.

"Don't yell…Tobi is a-!"

_Slam! _

Deidara had just punched Tobi in the face.

"-good boy!" the rest of poor Tobi's sentence came feebly.

"Just make sure you get her next time, OKAY?!" said Pain (note: spelling), walking away from the rest of the group.

"Sempai?" Tobi asked Deidara,

"WHAT, TOBI! WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT!?" Deidara yelled, sounding irritated.

"Remind Tobi again why the Akatsuki wants to capture the Land of Fire's princess?" asked Tobi.

"Ugh…Because if we can capture her, we can interrogate her until she tells us where the hidden palace city is. Then we can kill her parents, and take over the entire country," explained Deidara.

"Then why did Itachi and Kisame kill her host parents?" asked Tobi.

"That was plan A. We were trying to force her out of home and back to the palace city so we could follow her. Apparently now that she is currently in a relationship with Itachi's younger brother, she has no reason to leave Konoha. Capturing her is plan B. You would know that if you paid attention during meetings, Tobi!" explained Deidara.

"I don't really know what my brother sees in Ms. Haruno…I mean, she is attractive for a woman her age, but last time I checked, me and my brother weren't the…ah…social type," said Itachi.

"Well, I suppose if we can capture the princess, she'll be around for a while; it'll be nice to have another woman around," said Konan.

"Oh, shut up," said Deidara, who was still currently getting over having to explain everything AGAIN to the simple minded Tobi.

"Whatever, all I know is, I seem to be doing all the dirty work here!" complained Itachi.

"Don't worry, Itachi, we'll get her next time," said Kisame.

Oo*o0o*oO

"Sasuke. You. BAKA!" said Sakura.

"Now, now, Sakura…people are watching!" said Sasuke.

"Why are we standing outside a _bar_?! I distinctly remember saying something about keeping it legal!" said Sakura.

"Well…you see…um…"

"You have no response, do you, Sasuke," said Sakura, folding her arms across her chest.

"Not really, no," said Sasuke, "Come on!"

"NO!" said Sakura. "I am not going in their! Were underage, and don't we sort of have to be on stand by for our next mission? We shouldn't be messing around! And besides…we can't get in!"

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura. Do you know who I am?" asked Sasuke, a devilish grin spreading across his face.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she sighed. Sasuke took her hand and led her to the doors. Just like he had said, they let him in simply because he was an Uchiha.

"You may have gotten me in here, but you can't order anything!" said Sakura stubbornly.

_Geez! This would have been easier if we'd just raided someone's wine cellar, _thought Sasuke.

A pretty woman in her mid twenties (or so she looked) holding a tray full of shot glasses walked up to them once they had sat down at a table. Sakura had refused to sit at the bar.

"Forehead Girl?!" said the woman.

"Ino-pig?!" gasped Sakura. "I haven't seen you in months! What's it been…like a year?"

"And I heard about you…and that Sasuke came back…I've tried to come and see you guys but Sasuke was never at his old apartment or at the Uchiha complex. You haven't been sleeping with Sakura have you, Sasuke-kuuuuuun?!" Ino looked Sasuke straight in the eye, her flirty face suddenly had shot on.

"Oh no, not like that…I mean, we've been sleeping together, but not…oh forget it. Why do you care, Ino!?" asked Sakura, blushing furiously.

"Just asking!" said Ino innocently.

"So…how the hell did you get a job here? You're too young!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Do you really think I look seventeen?" asked Ino.

"Um…so you lied?" guessed Sakura. Ino smiled.

"So what'll it be?" Ino asked them.

"Nothing," said Sakura firmly.

"Sake," answered Sasuke simply.

"No problem!" said Ino.

"Wait! You aren't gonna asked him for identification or anything?!" asked Sakura, her temper rising.

"Nope!" said Ino. "What do you want?" Sakura sighed.

"Water," she said.

"Gawd, Sakura, you're no fun!" but Ino inwardly smiled. She was glad that Sakura wasn't going to get herself drunk around Sasuke.

Ino walked away, and Sasuke stood up.

"Where are _you _going?" Sakura asked him.

"Bathroom," he answered shortly.

Sasuke slipped around the corner that Ino had disappeared behind and found her passing out drinks to a nearby table.

"I need to talk to you, Yamanaka," he said. Ino giggled. She quickly set down her tray and followed Sasuke away from the couple sitting at the table.

"She'll have the same as me," he said to her.

"Um…what?" she asked, confused. Sasuke pulled out a very large sum of money from his pocked and slipped it into her shirt pocket.

"She'll have the same as me," he said again, then walked back towards Sakura.

"Can we leave now? Some loser just tried to hit on me," complained Sakura. She was lucky though…it was only seven thirty, so the place wasn't crazy.

_Just a few more hours…_thought Sasuke.

_Just a few more hours…_thought Sakura.

_Then we can get the hell out of this place, _thought Sasuke.

_Then we can leave…_thought Sakura. Sakura had no idea how correct she was.

She continued to sit at the table, passing the time by playing with her bracelets. She felt over exposed, which bothered her completely. She was wearing a very tight, white button down shirt and denim shorts that were so short, she felt like she was wearing just her underwear. On her feet was a pair of black stiletto heels. All this equaled an outfit chosen out by none other than: Uchiha Sasuke.

"Isn't this fun?" asked Sasuke, trying to lighten the mood.

"Can it!" said Sakura. Ino walked over to Sasuke and Sakura's table.

"Here's your Sake, Sasuke, and here's your…water," she said, Sasuke watching her carefully.

"Hmmm, whatever," said Sakura. Sasuke raised his glass to his lips, but not letting the liquid enter his mouth. He needed to stay sober to be able to complete what he was about to do.

Three hours later, Sasuke was getting impatient.

"Just drink your water, Sakura," he said.

"Why do you care if I dehydrate or not?" asked Sakura.

"Because I loooooooooove you," said Sasuke, pretending that he had been drinking, like she believed, and not waiting for Sakura to as well.

"Hm…" she sighed. She took her glass and not caring to make sure it was water she was about to drink (as she had barely even looked at the glass at all), and began sipping. She set the glass down on the table and looked at Sasuke. She slapped him.

"You bastard!" she yelled, causing a few heads to turn.

"Just sit down!" Sasuke hissed at her.

"NO!" she yelled back at him.

"Sakura…it's no big deal!" Sasuke said.

"Yes it is!" she shot back.

"Just let me finish my drink then we can go if you want," Sasuke falsely gave in.

He began to pretend to drink again, keeping an eye on Sakura. He saw her getting bored, and a few minutes later, saw her unconsciously reach for the glass again.

_**What the hell are we doing?!**_ Inner Sakura was saying. Normal Sakura, of course, wasn't paying attention anymore. She was simply dwelling on her thoughts of going home, all the while taking more and more sips of her drink. When she finished, Sasuke asked Ino for another, slipping her more money.

By eleven o'clock, the place was getting rather rowdy. And Sakura was no exception. She was now talking and laughing loudly with Ino, who was now completely ignoring her work.

"Sorry, Forehead, I gotta go use the ladies room!" said Ino, standing up and walking away. Sakura turned to Sasuke and smiled at him.

"You were right! This isn't half bad!" she exclaimed. Sasuke simply nodded.

Just as she said that, a middle aged man walked up to her and Sasuke.

"Heeeeeeeeey, baby! You wanna ditch emo over here and come on over with me 'n my buddies?" he slurred. Sakura started laughing.

"Eww! Gross!" she said. She punched the idiot in the face, receiving a few cheers from several onlookers. Sakura seemed to like the attention, so she stood up on her chair and sat down on the table.

"Sweet legs, sweetie!"

"What's your number?!"

"Come on girl, do something!"

the young men in the room were getting rather roused up, and several women were getting very jealous. Sakura slid off the table, and into Sasuke's lap (which quite surprised him, as he had simply been thinking of a way to get her out of the bar). She sat up and startled Sasuke's legs with her knees. She wrapped her arms tightly around Sasuke's neck, pulling his face close to her chest. She raised her head to her audience and winked, receiving another bout of cheers and screams. She lowered her head and started kissing Sasuke. This was about when Ino returned from the restroom.

"Oh my God! Sakura, what are you doing?" she asked. Sakura stopped kissing Sasuke (who, admittedly, had been enjoying that quite a bit), and slid back onto the table. She stood up.

"Having fun!" she said. She raised her hands slowly to the top of her shirt, and unbuttoned the first and topmost button. Ino laughed. She jumped up onto what had been Sakura's chair, and joined her on the fairly large circular table. Ino's uniform shirt had a fair amount of buttons, but only at the top, which she undid in about three seconds. Sakura, meanwhile, teased her audience by undoing three, then rebuttoning all but the first, and so on. Sasuke thought he should just get out of their with Sakura, but then again…when else was he ever going to see a show like this? Ino took Sakura's hands and started dancing to the song playing on the loud speakers. People were now crowded around the table, while Sasuke just simply gave a very small smile and watched in amusement. Then again, he didn't particularly like the idea of all those other men in here getting any ideas, so…

"Sakura!" he said, abruptly.

"Yes, Saaaaaaaasukeeeeee-kuuuuuun?" she asked.

"Time to go!" he said. This brought groans of disappointment.

"Come on! Let 'er have a bit more fun!" said one man.

"Yea, Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!" said Sakura. She lost her balance due to her stiletto heels, and landed in Sasuke's arms…well, over his shoulder, to be exact.

"We're leaving," said Sasuke.

Sasuke carried her out of her out of the bar, and down the street. It was dark. Sasuke continued walking until they got to Sakura's house. He slammed open the door and set Sakura down on her feet.

"Sasuke…!" Sakura wined, stamping her foot on the ground.

"Stay here! Don't move," said Sasuke. He rushed up the stairs and into Sakura's bedroom. He went strait to her dresser and pulled out several changes of clothes. He also packed some of her necessities that she would need. He put them into a bag and hurried back down the stairs. As for him, he already had everything he needed in the Sound Village.

**~Oh the suspense! What will happen in chapter sixteen? Only I: the all knowing author of this fanfiction knows! Well, I guess it was rather obvious, I mean, I wrote about Sasuke thinking about getting her drunk in previous chapters. But you don't know what will happen after that!!!! Oh, and I've also decided to put my authors notes in bold because when I go back and read this, I find it hard to decipher the story from the author's notes. This is just easier. And I've also given the Akatsuki a bigger part! I know that in the manga Itachi dies (and so does Tobi and Deidara, right? I don't know…I'm only on volume 28 as of now), but this is fanfiction, so it wont be totally accurate. But who cares, right? Also, I wrote this chapter in less time than I thought I would. I won't have the next chapter out next week because I have play practice (yea, I'm a theater geek) every day next week so I won't be able to write (sob). Oh well…hang in their, my readers! I will prevail! And school ends for me in about a month, so I'll be writing more then. I've also realized that as my story progresses, my author notes/chapter notes get longer and longer. Oh well!!**

**P.S. Tobi is a good boy!!!!!!!!!**


	16. Chapter 16: Two Birds With One Stone

**~I'm going to get this out of the way before I begin. I am soooooooooooo sorry about the wait for this chapter. I just have a super busy schedule! I also have to start the Algebra 1 home school course this week. Bla! Anyways…on with chapter sixteen! BELIEVE IT! **

Sixteen:

Two birds with one stone

"Sasuke-kuuuuuun!" complained Sakura.

"What!" demanded Sasuke, who was carrying her over his shoulder.

"Let. Me. Down!" she said slowly, trying to make sure he understood what she was saying and got the message.

"No, Sakura…I'm taking you somewhere," he said.

"Well, take this stupid blindfold off me! I can't see!" she wined.

"That's sort of the point. You can't see where were going…it's a surprise," said Sasuke. They were walking through the backstreets of Konoha, as to not attract all that much attention. So far, they were doing quite well. It was around midnight, so their didn't happen to be very many people walking around anyway…besides the group of about five very drunk men who walked (to the best of their ability) past them and were yelling something about Sakura being the "hot stripper" they had seen a while ago. Sakura started laughing wildly at this.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaa! Did you hear that, Sasuke-kuuuuuun? They thought I was hot! Do you think I'm hot, Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun?" she asked, temporarily forgetting the fact that she was being taken some where against her will (being drunk, she didn't have the sense to act like the kunoichi she was).

"No, Sakura," Sasuke said calmly once the drunk men had passed them by, "I think your extremely sexy, Sakura."

Sakura started giggling wildly again at this. Sasuke wished she wouldn't. When they finally reached the main road out of the village, Sasuke told Sakura to get down on her feet and walk.

"But I can't see!" she complained hysterically. Sasuke was getting irritated. But he knew what he had to do. So Sasuke picked her up again, and continued walking, all the while hoping that nobody would notice. When finally they were out of the village (it happened to be midnight no, so the guard was changing and it was easy to slip out), Sasuke walked into the woods and completely out of view and earshot from Konoha. He set Sakura down near a tree and ordered her to sit down. He took her blindfold off to discover tears coming down her face….yet…she was still laughing. She started putting her arms around Sasuke's neck and pulling his face to hers, to no avail.

"Stop, Sakura," he said. Then he mustered up the courage to say the words he had been taught by Orochimaru and the rest of Oto.

"Princess Haruno Sakura, heiress to the throne of the Land of Fire, I, Uchiha Sasuke, take you prisoner in the name of the Village Hidden in the Sound as well as Orochimaru-sama. Any struggle against me or your captors will result in torture or your death. Do you understand!" he said in a falsely confident voice. He was practically whispering over her. Sakura was confused beyond belief.

"S-Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!" she whimpered.

"Do you understand!" he repeated slowly, and slightly louder.

"Y-yes!" she cried.

"Good," and with that single word, he raised his hand and drew it swiftly and painfully across her face. He had slapped her unconscious. She slumped back into the tree she was sitting against, her green eyes closed. Sasuke hopped that was enough. He never would kill her, but he needed to do this. To keep her safe from the Akatsuki and still be able to be her lover, and to get his power back from Orochimaru to kill Itachi. To him, it was like killing two birds with one stone. Of course, he knew that she would be in danger from Orochimaru, but that was better than the Akatsuki. Never again would he let Itachi lay his hands on Sakura as long as he lived.

Sasuke picked up the unconscious Sakura bridal style and continued walking, his conscience practically killing him. He knew this was wrong, but he needed to kill Itachi, but he was not willing to lose Sakura…again. He also knew that she wasn't going to stay knocked out forever, and it would take a few days to arrive back in Oto. Lucky for him, he could keep her unconscious as long as he could, and he would simply have to get her drunk again before they entered the village. That way, it would look less suspicious to any random on lookers. Orochimaru, however, would soon learn the true story of what had happened. He felt his knee hitting Sakura's bag, along with the bottle of sake hidden within her clothing. A few times, the thought he saw her stir, but it was only her sleeping, or the occasional heavy intake of air. He would often gaze down and look at her face. It looked distressed…he didn't blame her, though. He felt guilty for knocking her out, but he hadn't really thought this process through (which was a surprise, as this is Sasuke were talking about).

Oo*o0o*oO

"SASUKE-KUN IS WHAT!?" screeched Karin.

"I received word from a very reliable source that he is in a serious relationship with the princess of the Land of Fire," came the evil drawl of Orochimaru.

"NO! This isn't happening! SASUKE AND I ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER!!!!" Karin yelled.

"Yes, but unfortunately, the princess happens to be that Sakura girl I captured for him a few weeks back. We seem to have let her escape from our clutches," said Orochimaru.

"Do tell us, Orochimaru-sama, what exactly is this 'reliable source' you speak of?" asked Kabuto.

"Well, to begin with, I saw it with my own eyes. Of course, I didn't know that the ninja that I had thrown into the room with Sasuke was the princess. And second, I heard that the Akatsuki was looking for her again, and recently learned her true identity. I may have quit the Akatsuki a long time ago, but I still have my ways of gathering their information," Orochimaru explained.

"Hm…but won't that make it still very difficult to get her…Sasuke-kun could be killed on the way, or if we manage to get her, the Akatsuki could be following us and it could turn into an all out war," said Karin, pushing up her glasses.

"That may be, but were much stronger than the Akatsuki," said Orochimaru.

"And how do you know that?" asked Kabuto skeptically.

"Just trust me…" Orochimaru said, his face turning up into a horrible smile.

"Hai!" Kabuto and Karin said, nodding.

"All we have to do now is wait."

Oo*o0o*oO

_**Wake up, Sakura! **_Thought inner Sakura loudly.

_No…I'm sleeping…Sasuke-kuuun…_thought Sakura.

_**Baka!**_

_Excuse me?!_

_**Oh nothing…!**_

Sakura rolled onto her side, realizing that she was unable to. She seemed to be moving…where the hell was she!? She couldn't remember much of what happened last night.

"Sakura-Chan?" said a soft voice above her. Then she remembered. Sasuke had taken her out, wrecked her reputation, and then slapped her unconscious. Her face turned into a determined and angry frown.

Sasuke set her down on the ground as quietly as I could, as not to wake her further. Too late, though, Sakura was already now wide awake, and very angry with Sasuke.

"I suppose you had fun, didn't you!?" asked Sakura, beginning to lose her temper.

"Um…"

"I don't really remember what happened last night, but I do remember you taking me prisoner in the name of Orochimaru and the Sound!" she yelled.

"I have to do this, Sakura-Chan! I can't stay their…I need to kill Itachi!" he said.

"Is that all you care about, Sasuke, killing your brother? Make up your mind, already…what do you want more…me…or the death of your brother?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

"That's exactly why I took you with me. You once told me that if I couldn't stay, to bring you with me. Isn't this what you want?" asked Sasuke.

"NO! Not anymore, anyway!" exclaimed Sakura angrily.

"Look! I'm not going to let you become depressed!" said Sasuke.

"Why do you even need to come back to this place anyway, Sasuke?!" asked Sakura, placing her hands on her hips.

"I told you…if I don't avenge my clan-!"

"You're impossible, you know that? I mean, you obviously – ow…" she said.

"What's wrong!" asked Sasuke.

"I hate you! Thanks to you I have a splitting headache!" said Sakura.

"Don't say that…I love you…why else do you think I brought you with me?" he asked, trying his best to keep his voice calm.

"Yea, to Orochimaru, you idiot! Don't you think he's probably found out that I'm the princess? Ever thought of that?" she asked, really beginning to lose it.

"Yes. I did think of that," Sasuke said, "That's why I brought you. If I bring you to Orochimaru, his plans for you are probably less horrible than that of the Akatsuki's. I would also be able to protect you. The Akatsuki isn't as powerful as Orochimaru and his followers," explained Sasuke.

"How long have I been out?" asked Sakura stiffly.

"About four days," answered Sasuke.

_I guess I've been out longer than I thought,_ thought Sakura.

_**Oh well, at least were alone with Sasuke-kun! **_Said inner Sakura.

_SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF MY HEAD! IT ALREADY HURTS ENOUGH AS IT IS! _Thought Sakura.

"Were getting ready to enter the village. Drink this," said Sasuke handing her the bottle from her bag.

"No way!" she said, turning away from him.

"Yes, Sakura! You are a prisoner to me and the Sound Village and Orochimaru. You have to do what I tell you!" he said.

"I may be a prisoner, but I'm not your slave!" argued Sakura.

"Look! I'm just telling you to drink this! Not all of it, just…"

"NO!" Sakura screamed. Sasuke pinned her arms to her side and held her against a tree. He knew that Sakura wouldn't hit him or try to fight him. Sasuke looked at her straight in the eye and said that dreaded word. Well…it was dreaded to those he used it against.

"Sharringan!" he said.

Sakura found herself unable to think and move for herself. She felt her fingers clasp around the bottle and raise it to her lips as Sasuke slightly moved away from her. Sakura fell to her knees, still drinking the contents of the bottle. She was not only drinking sake, however. Sasuke had slipped something else into the bottle. No, not poison or anything, he needed to keep her conscience. It was something he had stolen from Orochimaru a long time ago. It would make her lose her thoughts and even sense of who she was. After a few minutes, Sasuke took the bottle from her hands. Sakura's face was now blank. He smiled to himself.

"Come along now, Sakura," he said, taking her hand.

She did as she was told. Her eyes starred forwards, not blinking. They walked about two miles this way until they reached the main gates. Sasuke still detested this place, but he had to do this. He could feel Sakura's stare on him grow less intense, meaning that the extra stuff in her drink was wearing off. He had only used that as a way to get her to shut up, after all. She would still be drunk though, as the stuff enhanced the side effects of the alcohol.

The two made their way around dreary looking buildings and menacing looking people. Sakura slowly got back the ability to talk and was now chattering something about not liking the place and why Sasuke was taking her their. She didn't seem upset, though, so he was still happy. They finally got to a building that was quite large. Sasuke and Sasuke went in and walked up the stairs. Sakura was getting weird again…she was waving at random people and giggling. She wasn't walking strait anymore, and almost fell over a few times…by a few, I mean every few steps. Sasuke gave up and picked her up, making Sakura giggle more. She put her arms around his neck, while Sasuke did his best to ignore her.

_How annoying…yet…slightly intriguing_, thought Sasuke. He opened a door a little ways down a hallway and set her back down on her feet once they got inside. This was Sasuke's apartment. Sakura fell over and then started laughing again.

"It's really not that funny," said Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!" she wined, sitting up on her knees and hugging Sasuke around the waist.

"What," he said. She giggled even more.

"Where's your bedroom?" she asked, a smile spreading across her face. Sasuke couldn't help but lift her up again into his arms (Sakura still giggling) and taking her to the one other room in the tiny apartment other than the living room, kitchen and bathroom. Sasuke dropped her on his bed and sat down beside her. He knew she was obviously still drunk after him forcing her to drink again about thirty minutes ago, but that didn't stop him from crushing his lips to hers, forcing her down with his body so that he was now on top of her. His arms moved to around her body while hers were tightly around his neck. He would make sure not to over do it (no matter how much he wanted to) as to not completely piss Sakura off more than she already would be when she realized what had happened. While kissing her, Sasuke bit Sakura's bottom lip. A soft noise escaped her lips as Sasuke's mouth invaded hers. Sasuke couldn't help thinking that it was too bad that she wouldn't remember much of this by the next day…but he knew it wouldn't be fair of him to take advantage of her. Still…

Oo*o0o*oO

"Their here," said Orochimaru, his voice monotone.

"How do you know that?!" screeched Karin.

"One of our spies saw them enter the village. The princess is obviously drunk, and has lost most of her senses. For now, anyway…I expect she'll be in a foul mood by the morning," explained Orochimaru.

"Well, that's good," said Kabuto.

"Whatever. What are they doing _now_?!" demanded Karin, adding a little bit too much emphasis on the word _now_.

"I have a pretty good idea…" said Orochimaru, a smirk appearing on his face causing Karin to scowl bitterly.

"Stupid bitch!" cursed Karin.

"Watch your tongue, Karin," warned Kabuto.

"Shut up!" said Karin.

"But, Orochimaru-sama…what exactly are we going to do with the princess once we've got her in out clutches?" asked Kabuto, ignoring Karin.

"We'll do exactly what the Akatsuki is planning. Interrogate her until she tells us what we want to know…and more. Only, we'll use forms of torture much worse than the Akatsuki is planning to use. But we'll keep her alive. Just barely alive," said Orochimaru. Karin chuckled.

"Sounds like fun! Torturing her should be very entertaining!" she said.

"But what about Sasuke?" asked Kabuto, again, ignoring Karin.

"What do you mean?" asked Orochimaru.

"Well, if he loves Sakura, then he won't be very happy with us interrogating her. And who knows how much information about us he has given to those Leaf ninjas," answered Kabuto.

"Sasuke will come in handy…not only for my personal uses, but also for us getting information from his beloved princess Sakura," said Orochimaru.

"So…we'll torture her…by torturing him?" asked Kabuto. Karin shrieked.

"NONONONONONONONONONONONO-!" she was saying.

"Yes…but causing her physical pain won't hurt either," explained Orochimaru, still smiling evilly.

"You can't do this to my Sasuke-kun! This is an outrage! Can't we just torture the girl? Or better yet…why don't we just kill her and get it over with!?" asked Karin, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

"Just be patient, Karin…"

**~woo hoo! Chapter sixteen! It came to a total of two thousand and six hundred something words! I'm so proud of myself considering how lazy I am! I know it took me forever to write this, but my main computer is in my mom's room now so…and I'm writing a T rated Fanfic…one plus one equals…so yea. But schools over soon, so soon I'll be able to write even more. And the reason I was updating every day with two chapters near the beginning was because I already had all that writen. Now I'm writing chapters and posting them right after another. My arms are cramping up! Oh! And remember…REVIEW! Favouriting and subscribing is great, but comments and reviews make me happy! And please tell me any ideas that you have for in the future of the story. My brain is running dry. And the reason I am writing only about Karin, Orochimaru, and Kabuto and not anyone else in their little group is because I happen to be extremely lazy when it comes to writing scenes with a lot of people in this. I wrote Orochimaru into this because he's one of the main bad guys in Naruto, and Karin obviously would be fun to write, and Kabuto's just everyone's water boy. Anyway…seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Till next time! **


	17. Not A Chapter! but read anyway

Note to readers:

I am soooooooo sorry I haven't updated friends or foes in ages. I have so much algebra to do and I'm working on another fanfiction. It's just in the beginning stages. I'm also getting glasses and braces soon! Just so you people know…I'm still alive. Just don't look for the new chapter any time soon. I won't give myself a deadline, kuz knowing me…I wont meet it. Sorry, but please keep reading this!


	18. Chapter 17: Prisoner!

Seventeen:

Prisoner

Sakura rolled over and fell into something…someone. She opened her eyes and looked into Sasuke's eyes which were full of emotion. Awe…lust…love…and…worry?

Sakura now found that her head was hurting again. Not only that, but she found she had numerous bite marks on her neck and around and near her collar bone. Sasuke's arms were tightly encircled around her waist.

"Sasuke…" she began calmly.

"Yea?" asked Sasuke, bringing her onto his chest so that she was lying on top of him looking down at his face.

"Where the hell are we?" she asked her voice still calm and constantly fighting the anger welling up inside of her.

"Now…Sakura…I know you'll be mad, but…" began Sasuke.

"Well?" she asked, her anger growing in her voice.

"Sakura…" Sasuke tightened his hold on her.

"Hm?" she demanded.

"My apartment in the Sound Village," he said quickly.

"Ugh," she moaned, laying her head on his chest again. She couldn't move.

"Um…are you mad?" he asked the answer obvious to him.

"Well, duh!" she said, "My head hurts too much to be mad at you."

"You'll probably want to know why you're here, then…right?" asked Sasuke.

"Well, DUH! But I already know…you took me prisoner the other night," she said, recalling the events.

"Um…yea…that's pretty much it..."

"And what did you plan on gaining by doing this?" she asked, her head throbbing.

"Keeping you safe from the Akatsuki," answered Sasuke.

"You left out one important detail," said Sakura.

"And that would be?" asked Sasuke, raising an eyebrow.

"OROCHIMARU, you idiot!" she yelled, hitting him over the head.

"Do you love me?" he asked.

"Not at the moment!" she yelled.

She got out of the bed and found that her button down shirt was unbuttoned completely revealing her bra, and her denim shorts were unzipped and practically falling off her hips.

_Stupid Sasuke! How can he think he can get away this! When I get back to Konoha I'll…_ she thought to herself as she marched her way to the porch and starred out into the dreary, depressing town. She gripped the railing bar tightly. Sasuke came up behind her and squeezed her shoulder.

"Sakura…"

"No, Sasuke! I really thought you'd come back for real…I thought that I could trust you…but I can't, can I," said Sakura, looking over her shoulder at him. She had to admit, he was really amazing.

Up until now (now that she was completely sober) she had always thought that Sasuke was one of those people who was completely perfect. She now realized that Sasuke really did have his flaws…some more obvious that others.

"Sakura…people can see…you," Sasuke said awkwardly. She blushed and made to fix her shorts and shirt. She turned to face him.

"Did you at leas bring some of my things with us?" she asked him. Sasuke pointed to her bag by the wall. She walked briskly past him, picked up the bag, and walked into the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, Sakura reappeared in front of Sasuke in her familiar red and pink clothes with the tight green shorts. She had also taken a shower and put on some make up (god know why...)

"Let's go," commanded Sasuke, taking her arm. She slapped him away from her.

"Go where?" she demanded, her voice hard and commanding.

"I'm taking you to check in with Orochimaru-sama," he said.

"And you expect me to…how you say…'come quietly'?" Sakura asked sarcasm in her voice.

"Pretty much, yea," said Sasuke, taking her arm again. He started pushing her forcefully towards the door. Then…Sakura came up with a brilliant plan.

She quickly whipped around and pressed her lips to Sasuke's and began kissing him fervently. Slowly she moved him closer and closer to the couch that was a few meters away from them. After a minute she was laying on top of him, kissing him on the couch. Sasuke's lips were smirking against hers as he kissed and touched her.

Without him knowing it, Sakura pulled a kunai knife from her thigh.

"Sasuke…kun…" she said.

"Yeees, Sakura-Chan?"

"Give…give…" she said. She decided to get on with it…her brain was getting fuzzy and distracted.

"Give you what, Sakura?" he asked, hoping she was about to say what he had been thinking for weeks.

"Give…" Sakura placed the kunai to his neck. "Give it up."

"Wha-?"

"You heard me, Uchiha!" she said, digging the side of the kunai deeper into the skin.

"Damn it, Sakura!" he yelled, pushing them both into a sitting position. At that moment, the door of the apartment opened revealing a red haired, glasses clad, scantily dressed, pouting girl.

"You BITCH!" she screamed.

"Karin, get out of here!" Sasuke yelled back at her.

"NO, SASUKE-KUN! I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE WITH THIS…WITH THIS…SLUT!" she yelled, pointing her finger accusingly at Sasuke and Sakura.

"Karin, I mean it!"

"Who are you calling a slut?! You're the one who looks like a prostitute!" said Sakura. Sasuke couldn't agree with her more.

Sasuke chuckled quietly at Sakura's remark.

"Stop laughing! And you!" Karin said, her deadly gaze drifting to Sakura, "Don't let me catch you doing anything with Sasuke-kun!"

"Or what…you'll run outside and strip? Oh…I'm sorry…I didn't mean to bring your career choice into this!" said Sakura. Sasuke was remembering more and more of the wonderful things he loved about Sakura.

"Why you little-!" Karin was ready to explode with anger and hate for Sakura.

"Now, now… calm down, you two!" said Sasuke nervously. "Now what do you want, Karin?"

She was quick to compose herself.

"Orochimaru-sama wants to see you in the usual meeting place…he said to bring the bitch…uh I mean girl," explained Karin. Sasuke nodded.

"Just give us a moment…"

"Oh no, Sasuke…I'm sooooooo not leaving you alone with her!" said Karin, her voice sounding flirty.

"Too bad for you, 'cause she's sleeping with me tonight…and tomorrow…and the next day…and the day after that…and, well, you get the point," said Sasuke, standing up after Sakura. Karin crossed her arms over her chest and pouted in his direction.

"No way! Orochimaru-sama told me to return with you and her. If I don't, who knows what he would do!" argued Karin. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Fine…lead the way," said Sasuke, giving in. he grabbed Sakura's arms tightly and pushed her out of the door and down several hallways and through many rooms all the while, arguing to let her go.

Soon they arrived in a room that had to be several floors below sea level. Karin opened the door in front of them with a huge smile on her stupid face.

_Oooooooooh! Little Miss Perfects gonna get it now! And then Sasuke-kun will be MINE! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA! _Karin thought to herself. Expression of absolute glee and happiness showed on her face…ready to torture the guts out of Haruno Sakura.

"Weeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeee heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up, Karin," mumbled Sasuke as he pushed passed her still gripping Sakura's arms. Once inside the room, Sakura found it dark and dreary. Their was a large table in the middle and what looked like a prison cell in one of the corners. Sakura saw Kabuto, and a bunch of other people she barely recognized but knew they worked for Orochimaru. Then she saw _him_.

"My, my…I see Sasuke-kun has come back to me…and he brought the Land of Fire's princess," said Orochimaru with an evil grin spread across his horrid face.

"That's right, Orochimaru-sama," answered Sasuke.

"Oooooooooh! What are you gonna do to her, Orochimaru? Can I kill her when your done?" asked Karin gleefully. Orochimaru ignored her.

"Put her in the cell, Kabuto," said Orochimaru.

"Hai!" said Kabuto, nodding sharply. He forcefully took Sakura from Sasuke and threw her painfully into the prison cell and shut the door, locking it.

"Now…now that we have her…what are we going to do with her?" asked Sasuke, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Oh, that's right…you _love _her don't you!" said Orochimaru.

"Were going to torture you until you tell us where the hidden palace city is!" said Karin.

"NO!" yelled Sasuke. "You aren't going to hurt her!"

_Sasuke does care…?_ Sakura was seriously confused now. She felt shivers down her back as she saw Sasuke run forward and collapse onto his knees in front of the prison cell she was trapped inside. He gripped the bars tightly, staring at the ground.

"Sakura…I…" he said.

"You didn't consider them trying to hurt me, did you? You thought that just because you told them to they wouldn't," said Sakura.

"Sakura…I'm not going to let them hurt you…I promise," he said.

"I…" Sakura turned away from him. "I'm not going to get my hopes up with you anymore…I'm sorry Sasuke…I just don't think I can do this anymore…I love you…but…were over!

**~OMG! Sakura…breaking…up…with…Sasuke…why don't those words register in my brain???? Oh wait…I wrote them so…**

**Anyway…sorry for the super duper long time I took to update. I have so much algebra and I had tests…which I all passed by the way! But I'm back now…don't worry…I'm not dead!!!!!!! See you all next time! And please keep commenting, Favouriting, and subscribing to this story!!!!!! Haggles and kisses!!~**


	19. Chapter 18: insert chapter name here

Eighteen:

Insert chapter name here

"What?! I mean…you can't…Sakura!" said Sasuke. Sakura turned her back to him and cried into her knees.

"Go away!" she screamed.

"Sakura I'm sorry!" he said.

"Shut up!" she yelled at him.

Sasuke slumped backwards onto his heels, his hands still gripping the cell bars. His face had a pained expression on it.

"What are you going to do to her," he asked. It was less of a question, more of a demand for answers.

Orochimaru smirked and looked down at him.

"This little girl is going to help us," he said.

"You're going to kill her parents. You're no better than the Akatsuki," Sasuke realized, standing up to face them.

"Good job, Sasuke-kun!" squealed Karin.

"Shut up, bitch!" he snapped at her. Karin stepped back a bit as her smile sunk into a disappointed frown.

"No need to be so mean, Sasuke-kun!" she pouted. Sasuke ignored her.

"You're right, Sasuke," said Orochimaru.

"So…" he began.

"You didn't think this through at all, did you!?" asked (yelled) Sakura.

"I thought…"

"This is Orochimaru were talking about here, Sasuke!" she yelled at him. Orochimaru looked at her and smiled.

"My, my…your pretty smart," he drawled.

"Thanks. I get that a lot," she said glaring at Orochimaru.

"Now…where were we," he said to himself.

"You were about to torture the little girl!" interjected Karin.

"Shut up!" said Orochimaru.

"I won't let you!" said Sasuke.

"You brought her here!" said Kabuto.

"I just thought you would keep her prisoner…I didn't know that you would…" he said, his voice dimming out as he realized just how stupid he had been.

"Sasuke-kun…" said Orochimaru in a sickly sweet voice, "you might want to leave the room for a while."

"No! I'm staying with her," he said.

_He takes me prisoner…he brings me to Orochimaru…he still wants to protect me? What the hell is wrong with this guy?! _Sakura thought to herself. She was panicking, but was careful not the let her feelings be known.

"Kabuto!" said Orochimaru.

"Yes, Sir," answered Kabuto. He forcefully grabbed Sasuke's arms and pushed him out of the room and shut and locked the door.

Orochimaru turned to the frightened and helpless ninja in the prison cell.

"Now then. This shouldn't take long!"

Karin began laughing hysterically after Orochimaru's comment.

Oo*o0o*oO

"Pein-sama…it seems that Orochimaru now has the Princess," said Deidara.

"Do you think they are thinking the same thing as us?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Deidara.

"I mean…torturing her to get answers," he said.

"Weeeeel…it's kind of an obvious plan, so-," began Tobi.

"Shut up, Tobi!" hissed Deidara.

"Be quiet, both of you," snapped Hidan, "before I punch the living daylights out of both of you!"

"Daylight can't be living, Hidan-san!" giggled Tobi. Well that did it! Hidan took his fist and jammed it right at Tobi's orange mask. Toki was out like a light.

"Thank you, Hidan," said Pein sarcastically. "Now can we all just shut up and think?"

"Yes sir," murmured the entire Akatsuki.

"Good, now can someone please wake up Tobi?" asked the leader angrily.

Deidara grudgingly slapped Tobi and helped him to his feet.

"Thank you, Dei-Chan!" he said, hugging Deidara.

"SHUT UP, TOBI, AND DON'T CALL ME THAT!" he yelled.

"Shut up and quit messing around," said Zetsu, obviously getting as annoyed as the rest of the gang.

"Now…what do we do now?" asked Deidara.

"What do you think?"

"Kidnap her?" suggested Konan.

"Oh, brilliant!" said Hidan sarcastically. Tobi started clapping stupidly. Everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows. He stopped immediately.

Oo*o0o*oO

"Sasuke…you can leave for this first part…this wont be pretty," said Orochimaru. Sasuke stood his ground.

"Sasuke…just leave. You obviously are pretending to care," whispered Sakura. Sasuke looked at her with a look she had seen on his face a million times before. The face that told her how much he loved her.

_No…you can do better…you wasted you're time on him. You love him…but you know he doesn't love you back. No matter what he does. I have to keep telling myself that… _Sakura told herself. This was totally tearing her apart. She hated this. She thought she could trust him.

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru and pushed passed him to the cell. He kneeled down in front of it again and looked at Sakura, his face full of apology. Sakura wanted so badly to turn away from him and cry…but she couldn't. she didn't want to. She needed to face him now. She had to know...

Sakura looked at him directly in the eye and began to speak in a very serious voice.

"Do you, or do you not love me and if you do, then why did you do this. And don't give me anymore of that 'trying to protect me' crap," she Said.

"I love you so much, Sakura…and I don't care if you don't believe that 'crap' but it's true…I was trying to protect you," he said.

An arm grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him out of the room with surprising force. The door was locked. Sakura could only scream his name…but to no avail.

"Now…shall we begin?" grinned Orochimaru, along with Kabuto and Karin smirking in the background.

Oo*o0o*oO

"Kakashi Kakashi Kakashi Kakashi!" yelled the teenage blond boy, who happened to be running down the street yelling his sensei's name at the top of his lungs. He crashed into him.

"Watch it, Naruto, I was reading," he said.

"Well, drop your stupid book and let's get going!" said Naruto, waving his arms wildly.

"Wha-?"

"SAKURA-CHANS GONE!!!" he yelled.

"Huh?"

"She's been gone for the past week! I haven't seen her and Tsunade's been asking for her and beginning to blame me for her disappearance! Come to think of it…she usually blames me for everything anyway, but…"

"Where's Sasuke?" asked Kakashi, his voice suddenly urgent.

"I haven't seen him either! What if…"

"What if he turned on us again…and took Sakura with him. Naruto…I know who she really is. The princess… I've always known ever since she was assigned to team seven. We have to go get her!" said Kakashi. Naruto was surprised…he had actually put down his stupid book!

"I already have permission from Grandma Tsunade to leave the village and go get her. We have to go now!" said Naruto, "I already said good bye to Hinata-Chan."

Kakashi nodded in response, and the two immediately took off running towards the exit of the village.

"Where do you think they are?" asked Naruto.

"Well…Sasuke obviously turned on us…so that means…he's taken her to Orochimaru. Our best bet is the hidden sound village," said Kakashi.

**~ eh hem…I'M BAAAAAAACK! Yes, after over a week away in Florida, I am back and ready to continue writing this story. Sorry if it doesn't make any sense…I sort of wrote half of it, left for over a week, then came back. I couldn't go on the computer and read yaoi fanfics for an entire week! It almost killed me! But I'm back…and no, I haven't died. I'm getting really bad at updating this story, but I apologize. To those of you, who have been commenting, THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!! And please…comment…favourite… yea… well…until the next chapter, bye-bee!!!!!!!!!!!! Whew!**


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen:

Sakura lay on the ground…tossed to the side like a broken doll owned by some small child. She was bleeding badly, and she was crying. She couldn't believe anyone would do this to her. She knew she loved her people, so she had kept her mouth shut…no matter how badly they hurt her. She wouldn't let anyone take over her country just because she was too weak.

Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Karin (after kicking her a few extra times) had left the room without even bothering to put her back into the cell. They knew she could barely move, so the chance of her escaping was very small.

A tall dark figure kneeled over Sakura's body. She didn't know who it was because she couldn't lift her head. She knew it was a man, though, from the shape of his shadow on the floor.

She felt a hand on her turn her so she was now lying on her back. Two strong arms that felt familiar lifted her up, resulting in her resting her head on the man's chest. Then the man spoke her name.

"Sakura…" it was Sasuke.

"W…what do…do…" she grimaced in pain "…you w-want?"

He didn't answer.

"Put me down, t-t-tra-itor," she said.

He didn't answer.

"Sasuke…p-please!" she cried weakly.

"Your bleeding…I'm going to take you back to the apartment and get you cleaned up," said Sasuke ignoring her.

"I love you," she whimpered softly.

"Your stubborn, and don't know when to shut up," said Sasuke.

She was shocked. How could he say that?! Only a few hours ago he was defending her…trying to get Orochimaru to let her go. Why was he saying this to her?! She thought he still loved her.

"Sasuke…I…"

"Shut up," he said, not looking at her as they walked up several flights of stairs.

Sakura stayed silent. She was confused, hurt, sad…she just wanted to go home and forget all of this. Had Sasuke only loved her to use her? Did he know she was the princess all these years? She just didn't know anymore.

"Sasuke…I can walk…your getting blood on you," said Sakura.

"Hn," Sasuke replied. Sakura rolled her eyes weakly.

Sasuke kicked open the door to his apartment, walked over to the couch, and dropped her onto it. Sasuke went to his room and slammed the door shut. He reappeared a second later shirtless, holding his shirt in his hand.

"We were out of clean towels. You used the last one this morning," he said.

Sakura nodded.

Sasuke kneeled beside her. He hesitated before putting the material onto her wounds and started cleaning the blood off of her.

"Sakura…I can clean the blood off your arms and legs but…" his face grew red "…your going to have to…um…well I can't clean all the blood unless you remove your clothing."

Sakura blushed furiously.

"All of it?" she asked.

"No…um…actually…yea," he said, his face more and more red.

"Are you just trying to-," she asked.

"No," he interrupted quickly. He _was _telling the truth.

"I can just go take a shower and then heal myself," she said.

"You can't move," said Sasuke. She tried to, but she couldn't. She just sent searing pain all through her body. Sasuke could see that she didn't want to take her clothes off in front of him, so he decided to just do the best he could.

"Don't," said Sasuke. He dared himself to run his fingers up her leg from her ankle to all the way up her thigh. He figured…she couldn't really slap him out of the way.

She had to admit, she loved his fingers on her skin. She felt glad that he was their. She knew he had to still love her. She still loved him.

"Sasuke…please…" she began.

"Do you want me to stop touching you or something?" he asked. He looked at her a moment. He felt a jolt in his heart. She was so beautiful…despite her being covered in blood.

Sasuke moved his shirt to her face as he started gently cleaning blood.

"I…I have some antiseptic in my medical bag…did you decide to be…ow…smart and bring that with us?" she asked.

He nodded and went over to were she had dropped her bag on the floor after her shower that morning. He unzipped the bag and started rummaging through her things. Where had he put it?! He hadn't really thought about what he had thrown into her bag, so he was very surprised when he saw what he picked up next.

A pair of pink shorts with two pockets. But that wasn't what caught his attention. It was two photographs stapled together. The first, was a picture of a five year old Sakura (Which Sasuke found very cute) standing with her parents. She looked very happy. The second was very familiar…he had seen it before. In fact…he had a copy of that same photo. The same photo…only Sasuke had cut out most of the people from his copy. This was the picture of Team 7 from back when they were Genin. He couldn't believe that she had actually kept this after all these years. He loved her for her determination.

Oo*o0o*oO

Naruto and Kakashi raced through the woods at top speed. Naruto was determined to get back Sakura…and kill Sasuke. He was so mad right now. He couldn't believe that Sasuke would have the nerve to lead Sakura on like that, and then betray and kidnap her.

"Naruto? You look upset…are you alright?" asked Kakashi.

"NO! I am NOT alright! Of course I'm upset…Sasuke is such a loser!"

"Yea…I can't believe that he would do something like that to Sakura," answered Kakashi.

"I swear…when we find them I'm personally going to kill Sasuke," fumed Naruto.

The two ninjas continued on their way to the sound village in silence. All Naruto could think about was finding Sasuke and Sakura. He wanted to finish this and get back to Konoha where Hinata was waiting for him.

**AN: wow…I feel so bad! How many months has it been? Well…I'm sorry. I really am! I'm in the middle of a Fullmetal alchemist story (2, actually), and I know I use school as an excuse too much, but I really am swamped. I stopped doing community theater, though! I also saved this (and all my other stories) onto a flash drive so I can work on this during lunch and break at school. The reason I stopped doing this was because I decided to actually go beyond the 20****th**** volume of the manga. I also always watch the anime, but that's nothing different. Anyway, apparently Orochimaru dies. That sucks for this story. That's fine, though…I'll figure something out! I also realized that I'm going to make Karin mysteriously disappear! Why? Because I don't like her. Also…she doesn't really have anything to do with the story. And she doesn't fit in right. Well, I guess a chapter every few months isn't so bad. On the plus side…I update about as frequently as "Naruto abridged" on YouTube does! **


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